'Wizards of Waverly Place' Casting Director Reveals Actor She Was Told to Recast

The Wizards of Waverly Pod has been spilling all of the behind-the-scenes secrets from Wizards of Waverly Place and the latest episode is no exception!

In Monday’s (March 18) new episode, casting director Ruth Lambert joined hosts Jennifer Stone and David DeLuise, and she revealed that she was told to recast one of the show’s main, original characters.

Keep reading to learn more…

“[I was hired] to replace Matt [McCoy] and to replace David Henrie,” Ruth shared. “And we were really surprised about that because David was so good in that pilot, and David was always just such a good kid actor, and so talented, and that face, and, you know, gifted really, at comedy.”

When asked if it was because David and Selena Gomez‘s characters were supposed to be twins, originally, she said it had nothing to do with that, that she knew of.

Later in the episode, Ruth added, “I do want to say that after having so many people in to recast him, his role, David Henrie, and of his course his mother knew, because people in town, everyone knew we were doing it. And then, when we didn’t and we were so happy, Robert [McGee] and I were like, ‘Oh my god, I hope he doesn’t hold it against us.’”

“We didn’t know him, but still, we were the ones doing it… it was our job,” she continued. “Our first day on set, we went over and introduced ourselves and he was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m so happy to meet you,’ and you know, big hugs, and it made us, it took all of this, sort of, how bad we felt [away], because we hadn’t wanted to recast him. He was always so good.”

If you didn’t know, David DeLuise was not in the original pilot of the series, and he replaced Matt McCoy as the dad. Check out a clip from the original pilot here!

David Henrie is actually reprising his role of Justin Russo in an upcoming Wizards revival series at Disney channel.

Find out what Selena Gomez, who will also return in the pilot, said about the new show!