Selena Gomez Reunites With Wizards of Waverly Place Co-Star David Henrie

Selena Gomez will reunite with her Wizards of Waverly Place co-star David Henrie, as producer of his upcoming directorial debut This is the Year. Emblematic of this year, the film will have a virtual premiere — something that has become increasingly common. Less common is that the film’s premiere will be “fully interactive, according to Entertainment Tonight, who broke the story. Henrie and Gomez will present an introduction to the film, followed by a cast Q&A moderated by TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. Platinum-selling group lovelytheband will perform, and the whole event will support the PLUS1 COVID-19 Relief Fund.

This Is The Year sounds a bit like Can’t Hardly Wait by way of Detroit Rock City. Per ET, the film “centers on a nerdy high school senior (Lorenzo Henrie), who, in a last-ditch effort to win over the girl of his dreams, embarks on a road trip with friends to see their favorite band at the hottest music festival of the year. Of course, he then discovers true love in the most unexpected place.”

Also appearing in the film are Gregg Sulkin and Jeff Garlin, also alumni of Wizards of Waverly Place, as well as Vanessa Marano (Gilmore Girls), Jake Short (A.N.T. Farm), Alyssa Jirrels (Girl Meets World) and Bug Hall (The Little Rascals).

In addition to Wizards of Waverly Place, Henrie appeared in a number of TV projects including Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana, That’s So Raven, and Method and Red. He is probably most familiar to anybody who isn’t a huge Wizards fan as Luke Mosby, the son of Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother. Alongside Lyndsy Fonseca, Henrie sat on a couch and listened to Josh Radnor pontificate about his love life for years, although the finale’s twist was actually shot very early in the show’s life so that they didn’t have to worry about Henrie and Fonseca potentially aging too much over the years. At the time of the show’s finale — one of the most divisive of all time — Henrie had already started to work behind the scenes as a camera operator in Hollywood.

Gomez, a notable recording artist and producer as well as an actress, has appeared in movies like The Dead Don’t Die, Ramona and Beezus, and Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who in the years since Wizards of Waverly Place. During the pandemic, HBO Max tapped Gomez to film a cooking show called Selena + Chef, and the animation industry — more active than live action at present — has her listed for a fourth Hotel Transylvania movie soon.