David DeLuise’s Jerry Russo Comes By With A Little Spellp In 'Wizards Beyond Waverly Place'
Daddy’s back, and he’s got four whole scenes
Back in August, Disney Channel released a behind the scenes video for the Wizards of Waverly Place sequel series Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, which revealed David DeLuise, who played dad Jerry Russo on the original series to be the first character other than them two, who also serve as executive producers, to return. Wizards Beyond premiered seven additional episodes on Disney+ Wednesday beyond Tuesday’s two-episode premiere on Disney Channel. And indeed, in that batch was the Stargate SG-1, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Megas XLR actor’s glorious return appearance. While grabbing the story from Us Weekly’s exclusive on one scene (which was the second with a description of the first) would’ve been too quick a turnaround for the Disney+ release, there’s still enough time before the linear airing (even with two new episodes regularly airing back-to-back each week) to give the rundown.
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place sees David Henrie reprise his role as Justin Russo, now a married father of two return to wizardry after having given it up following his firing from WizTech when sister Alex, played by Selena Gomez, drops off a young wizard who needs to be trained to prevent a wizard world-ending prophecy from being fulfilled. In the seventh episode “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Float", Billie, the young wizard in question played by Janice LeAnn Brown, enlists wizard helpline Spellp to help her with her wizard homework and it turns out Jerry volunteers there. Except it can’t be used for homework (nor for several forms of revenge, crime, or bribery). Billie tricks Jerry into believing it’s mandatory paperwork from trolls, and she gets the spell.
Sometime later Justin gets suspicious, and father and son have a joyful reunion. “What are you doing here?” Justin asks him, and he responds with the quip “Well, your mother took up tennis. And apparently, I’m not very good at it. And now, I’m here at the spellp-line. Justin is surprised, confused why he wasn’t told, and it turns out the two had “stopped talking about wizard stuff” after his firing. He explains to Jerry about how he got pulled back in, and dad responds he got “Alexed”. Jerry is overjoyed that Justin is teaching again, as difficult as it has been getting back into things and used to Billie. “Did a girl come in about this tall, cool clothes, sarcastic but in a frustratingly likable sort of way?” he asks Jerry, who confirms and tells exactly what went down. “That was Billie trying to get out of doing her homework,” Justin responds, with Jerry incredibly amused that according to Billie’s story, Justin would comparatively be the troll, and they both commend her on how cunning she can be.
Later, Jerry pops by the lair and finds Justin doubting his teaching abilities, so he has to remind him how differently he and Alex learned, and how similar the case is with Billie. Justin then is urged to make the right adjustment. Jerry’s still at the lair when Billie arrives after the titular float plotline ends, so she briefly pretends she doesn’t know him before they are properly introduced. The three of them reenter the house, meaning Jerry does get to see his grandkids, the older Roman played by Alkaio Thiele and younger Milo played by Max Matenko, briefly before scurrying back to Spellp when he remembers how long he’s been gone.
If Disney Channel did air two more new episodes on Friday, November 1 like their Instagram claims, then “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Float" should be making its linear premiere this Friday, November 8. If not, like Wikipedia claims, and as was originally reported when the series premiere date was announced, then it will be the following Friday, November 15. As far as other returning cast, things have been tightlipped. The show’s red carpet premiere saw a nostalgic swath of Disney Channel stars of the last 20+ years attend, including Maria Canals-Barrera, who played Justin’s mother and Jerry’s wife Theresa Russo, Gregg Sulkin, who played Alex’s werewolf boyfriend Mason Greyback, and Josh Sussman, who recurred as Hugh Normous, a wizard adopted by giants. While their statuses are unclear and vary considerably in expectation, the series does mark the return of Patrick Bristow to Disney Channel, now playing Wizardpedia. He previously recurred on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody for nine episodes as Patrick the waiter across its three seasons. Wizards Beyond Waverly Place also stars Mimi Gianapulos as Justin’s wife Giada and Taylor Cora as Billie’s friend Winter.
Source: Us Weekly