On a toasty Thursday in June, the set of “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” was abuzz with festivity and Christmas sweaters as the Disney Channel series films its Season 2 Christmas episode, “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Wizmas.” It was an especially notable day for star and executive producer David Henrie, who made his directorial debut on the reboot series nearly two decades after first stepping onto the set “Wizards of Waverly Place.”
The shift to director comes naturally for Henrie, who has directed a number of indie films and shorts, and has stepped behind the camera plenty as an EP for the Disney Channel series. But Henrie was especially lauded for his hands-on approach to working with the child cast, with a mother of a child cast member likening Henrie’s approach to child star-turned-director Danielle Fishel.
“Have fun with it, sweetie,” Henrie tells Janice LeAnn Brown, who plays Justin’s protégé, Billie, as she starts her scene hanging from a massive Christmas tree.
With Henrie in Brown’s shoes two decades prior as he became known as wizard Justin Russo, directing was a “massive full circle moment” for the actor, who has always strived to mesh his love for acting and directing together.
“As a little boy, my dream was always to direct,” Henrie told TheWrap. “I loved acting. I still love acting. I’ll always love acting, but I always wanted to get behind the camera and to get to bring these two worlds together as an actor and now as a director, was a very magical moment for me.”
While working with his on-screen family and a handful of crew members that date back to Henrie’s time on the original “Wizards” brings a level of ease to Henrie’s first time in the director’s chair, there’s a deep level of thoughtfulness Henrie brings to the table, with his directorial debut informed by years of studying his own directors.
“I learned from people I admire, and I learned from people that I maybe didn’t like working with — These are all great ways to learn lessons,” Henrie told TheWrap. “My approach really was to lead with humility, to be a servant leader, to empower everyone to crush it, to let them shine [and] me disappear, to set up the domino so they fall in the right way.”
It’s far from the first time Henrie has stepped into the role of director, with the actor helming indie flicks “Monster Summer” and “This Is the Year,” which featured a handful “Wizards of Waverly Place” alum, as well as shorts “Boo!” and “Catch,” though the process of the helming a sitcom for a week varies heavily from the months-long shoot required of most indies. “I had just an abundance of energy,” Henrie said. “I had to literally stop myself from running, because I’m used to directing independent films and running around the set”
Shifting from film to TV directing brought about a dynamic switchup for Henrie, who notes TV directors are there to serve the showrunners’ vision, while film directors are the leaders of the ship, and Henrie couldn’t be happier to serve showrunners Scott Thomas and Jed Elinoff. “Nine times out of 10 we were all on the same page anyway,” Henrie said. “We have a really good system of people that are just making sure that we’re getting the top of the top quality in in each and every day.”
Henrie especially leaned on the showrunners when he was on-screen as Justin during the episode’s filming, noting he skipped playback on his own scenes as he trusted Thomas and Elinoff to wear their directorial hats when he was in front of the camera. “There was no need to doubt or second guess any of it,” he said.
While Henrie felt confident about working with the kids, the comedy and the blocking, the switch from one camera on indie films to four on the multicam sitcom was initially intimidating, though Henrie used the additional cameras to his advantage to fit the Christmastime vibe.
“I had a bunch of special shots that were put in there with just one camera, that I think adds a little pop and a little pizzazz to this episode and makes it feel a little more single cam, and for a Christmas episode, I think that’s appropriate, because there are some moments of warmth and heart that you just don’t get in sitcoms,” he said.
Henrie also worked with the editors to fine tune the final cut of the episode, a crucial step of the process he said he often encourages for young directors, saying “I learned my biggest lessons in the edit room.” “You feel something in the moment, and oftentimes it’s not what you feel in the edit room,” Henrie said.
Reaching a second season is a feat not achieved by many sitcoms nowadays, and the weight of that responsibility is not lost on Henrie, who notes it’ll take both innovation and creativity for sitcoms to keep up with the times. “That’s what we’re trying to do here, and I think if we have forward thinkers that are like us and are not afraid to be the tip of the spirit, we’re going to continue to have more of them,” he said.
As a sitcom in 2025, Henrie notes the series took some big swings this season by adding in some dramatic, serialized arcs. “We need to tell stories. Kids can handle it. Kids want real stories,” he said. “In addition to the big laughs and big heart, we really went there with some serialization that I think a lot of sitcoms aren’t … We took into account who the viewer is today and how they want to engage with content.”
The Season 2 greenlight also enabled the child cast to get into their groove, with Henrie noting the actors’ jump from Season 1 and Season 2 reminded him of himself and Selena Gomez. “They’re finding their own little idiosyncrasies that pop,” Henrie said. “It’s the stuff in between the dialogue that helps really bring it to life. It’s the little moments that you only find if you’re comfortable and owning your craft, and they were all doing that. I’m so proud of them.”
With Gomez only appearing in the series premiere last season, Henrie revealed she’ll be returning for Season 2’s two-part finale, though he said, if she could, she would be in every single episode. The finale includes some big emotional beats for Gomez’s Alex, with Henrie saying “I don’t even know if in the original show, she hits the depth of emotion that she’s going to hit in this season finale.”
As “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” solidifies its groove, Henrie shared his hopes to keep the series going “for a very long time.” “I think we achieved our goal of getting the original fan and also, at the same time bringing [in] a new fan,” Henrie said, noting his favorite comments from viewers are that they, as fans of the original, are now watching the reboot with their children. “That means a lot to me, and that was always my hope from the beginning.”
“Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” airs new Fridays on Disney Channel. Season 2 will debut Oct. 8 on Disney+.
