David Henrie starred as Justin Russo on the Disney Channel series “Wizards of Waverly Place” from 2007- 2012. Once the 106 episodes had been produced, Henrie went on to other projects from starring on “How I Met Your Mother” to executive producing “A Tale Dark & Grim.” He and fellow “Waverly Place” co-star Selena Gomez talked over the years about how much fun it would be to bring the series back. After numerous starts and stops, “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” will launch at 8 p.m. Oct. 29 on Disney Channel and the first nine episodes will be available on Disney+ and Disney Channel On Demand on Oct. 30. “The idea for the show came about very organically,” Henrie says. “It was born out of a place of love for Selena and me both. We would be joking around about what the characters would be doing nowadays. “We kept getting together so much that at a certain point we said this would make sense to do in front of Disney.” What they pitched successfully to Disney is the series that follows an adult Justin Russo, who has chosen to lead a normal, mortal life with his family that includes his wife Giada (Mimi Gianopulos) and their two sons Roman (Alkaio Thiele) and Milo (Max Matenko). When Justin’s sister Alex (Gomez) brings Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) 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. The main thing Henrie and Gomez wanted to do with the show was to make sure it remained true to the spirit of the original series. They didn’t want to do an edgy single-camera version of the show but opted to use the same multi-camera approach that was used for the original. “This was about passing on the meaning, the heart, the humor of the original show to a whole new audience,” Henrie says. “But, at the same time, inviting the original fans into this experience with us to be able to show it to their kids. “We really wanted to create a show that can speak and love on the original fan but really hand down the impact that the original show had through their themes to a whole new audience.” Henrie came very prepared to make that concept work. The actor, director and Emmy Award-nominated producer has been in the entertainment business for over 25 years. His professional credits include dozens of movies and hundreds of episodes of television. While the new series embraces much of the old, there is one dramatic change for Henrie as he goes from being one of the kids to taking on the role as the father. That transition was a breeze for him because he has three children of his own. “Every year of marriage that would go by and I would have another kid, I began to realize that I am Justin Russo,” Henrie says. “This is me. “I’m a rule follower. I care about things like order and discipline. I care about hard work. I love my family to death. When I got married and started having kids, that is when it all started to become real in my mind.” The task of playing the mom in this series falls to Mimi Gianopulos who stars as Giada Russo. She is a loving wife and good mother, but she has no idea that her husband has magical powers. Keeping her in the dark will be the source of a lot of comedy material. Even with her naiveté in terms of magic, Gianopulos is excited about playing the mother on the show because she gets to do more than make breakfast and send her children off to school. “David and I have our own storyline,” Gianopulos says. “We have lives and jobs. I am a reporter. I am an investigative journalist. “The joke is me not knowing anything and being an investigative journalist and not figuring out my husband is not human or a wizard. It is funny and it also gave the writers a lot of material to build up that reveal. The reveal is hilarious and a really, really great episode.” Gianopulos is a Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama graduate with a degree in musical theater. Her previous television roles include playing Sue Mengers in the miniseries “The Offer,” Kaitlyn in the comedy series “Rutherford Falls,” and a recurring role as Morgan on “American Princess.” She is best known for her recurring role as Angela in the Freeform series “Baby Daddy” and was also cast in the lead role for the pilot of “Continuing Fred” for Freeform. Her film credits include “Get a Job” and “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.”