Disney has a captivating young star in Janice LeAnn Brown, who plays a young Wizard in training for their new series Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, premiering October 29.
Source: Courtesy / Disney
The series, which was executive produced by original Wizards of Waverly Place cast members David Henrie and Selena Gomez, follows an adult Justin Russo, who has chosen to lead a normal, mortal life with his family, Giada, Roman and Milo. When Justin’s sister Alex brings Billie to his home seeking help, Justin realizes he must dust off his magical skills to mentor the wizard-in-training while also juggling his everyday responsibilities — and safeguarding the future of the Wizard World.
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place stars David Henrie and Janice LeAnn Brown spoke to GlobalGrind about the new era of wizard magic, their characters’ chosen family dynamic and the incredible Halloween episode.
Fans of the original series will be pleased to the spinoff retains so many of the elements that made the original Wizards a hit, but newcomer Brown adds an unmistakable spark that is sure to attract a new generation of fans to the show.
“That was the challenge,” David Henrie told GlobalGrind. “How do you do something that respects the old, but in an entirely new way? And in a lot of ways her [Brown’s] character helped unlock it for us, because Selena and I knew what made the original show special. We’ve met fans all over the world, we know it was how deep we went on family values and sibling moments and we really wrote an adult show but for kids, because we had a lot of really talented writers who worked on shows like Friends and Everyone Loves Raymond, so they made shows that they would want to watch — but for kids.”
“I think we had a finesse to our show and the depth of theme that really made us resonate all over the world and helped us to win Emmys,” Henrie continued. “So Selena and I know what made that first show special, but how do you do it again, right? How do you do it in a new way? So for us it really was unlocking Billie’s character. That helped us figure out an engine that was a new way to do it, because her character really is the opposite of everything the Russos stand for at first. We’re all about family and being there for one another, and unconditional love, and her character is a character that’s never really had a family support system and she’s distrustful of that — and authority figures. So she really comes in like a bull in a china shop and is a tough one to win over. I won’t say what happens — you’ll have to watch, but it’s a great way to retell family stories when you have a central character who doesn’t believe in them.”
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Janice LeAnn Brown has previously played a young version of Rue in Euphoria and Young Bow in Black-ish, but we were so excited to see her really step into the leading Wizards role as Billie, who is an incredibly special character.
“The thing that I love most about playing Billie is the fact that as she’s growing with the Russos, I feel like I’m also growing within myself as a person,” Brown told GlobalGrind. “I feel like I’m growing as Janice LeAnn Brown so it feels like an honor to be able to play her– especially since I have so much in common with her – from like family things and all of that stuff, because I’m adopted by my grandparents, so they’re my found family. The Russos are Billie’s found family. So it genuinely means a lot to me to play such a character that I’m like… It’s very therapeutic to me in a way you know because I feel like as Billie is learning things, I too am learning things with her, and I think that’s my favorite part about playing her. I wouldn’t want her any other way. I wouldn’t change one thing about her, from her style to her little bit of attitude, she’s all fun and lip gloss, and that’s how I like to describe her in a way. She’s like my best friend in a way.”
“And then the relationship that Billie and Justin have — I think Justin really holds her down, because she’s a little bit of a rebel, she doesn’t like listening to rules. She’s like David described her, ‘a bull in a china shop.’ He really shows her the discipline of her wizardry and just kind of ages her a lot through pretty much every single day she’s learning things with the Russos.”
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David Henrie also spoke to the way that Billie helps Justin, despite turning his world a bit upside down.
“She really is kind of a linchpin in Justin’s life that really helps him unbottle a lot of stuffed down feelings because something happened in Justin’s past called ‘the Unicorn incident,’ and he suddenly doesn’t have his headmaster position anymore and he wants nothing to do with magic and she comes in and she really helps unbottle this for him and helps him embrace the side of himself that he never really wanted to walk away from,” Henrie told GlobalGrind. “That’s a wonderful thing now to introduce to my family — to come come clean with them and it creates a wonderful wonderful dynamic that I think people will really resonate with.”
With Wizards Beyond Waverly Place premiering the week of Halloween, we asked the show’s stars about their characters’ plans for the spooky holiday.
“For Wizards it’s pretty much endless possibilities, because with all the magic I feel like anything could happen,” Brown said. “But I think for us, we’ll probably just spend it with family. I think that’s the best way that they’re probably going to spend it.”
“We’re coming out right before Halloween,” Henrie added. “We definitely have a really fun Halloween episode for you guys that I’m excited for everyone to see.”
Source: Courtesy / Disney
Brown also opened up about the insight she’s gained about wizards since filming the show.
“To me it’s like the lesson behind the power that’s important,” Brown told Global Grind. “I love the subtle lesson that with great power comes great responsibility. The discipline and the self-control, if there were to ever be wizards and see the struggles that they may face with us wizards. Honestly reading the scripts and the journeys and the adventures that they go through I’m like, ‘Ohh dang!’ God would have already said that I’m a wizard on accident, so good for you girl.”
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place premieres with two episodes Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel. The first eight episodes will be available on Disney+ the next day, Wednesday, Oct. 30.
