Alex-Stevie shippers, your theory has been confirmed. Peter Murrieta, head writer and executive producer of Wizards of Waverly Place, just revealed that Alex Russo, played by Selena Gomez on the popular Disney sitcom, was supposed to be bisexual.
Murrieta, who worked on the first three seasons of the show, revealed this information on the podcast Wizards of Waverly Pod, hosted by Jennifer Stone and David DeLuise, who played Alex’s best friend and dad, respectively.
When asked what story line he wishes he could have done, he said, “Easy, easy, easy, easy. I wished we could have played more with what was quite obvious to a lot of us, the relationship between Stevie and Alex. But we weren’t able to in that time… It was pretty clear to all of us what that relationship was. That would’ve been fun. ”
Stevie, played by Hayley Kiyoko, only appeared in four episodes, but according to Murrieta, if you watch the two characters’ interactions, you can see the flirtation. “We got as close as we could. I mean it was pretty close. It was pretty much right there. ”
Stone theorised that a bisexual Alex might have been possible if the show had been on in a later time, per Variety, to which Murrieta added, “At the time, [having LGBTQ characters on Disney Channel] wasn’t a thing. ” For context, the show ran from 2007 to 2012.
Disney Channel’s first same-sex couple didn’t appear until 2014, when a pair of lesbian moms popped up in an episode of Good Luck Charlie (and yes, even then bigots got mad). So making the tween protagonist of a hit series queer…it just wasn’t going to happen then.
The trio spoke for an hour about all the coulda-woulda-shoulda’s Murrieta had wanted for the show, including a different ending (! ). You can watch their conversation here:
Neither Selena Gomez nor Hayley Kiyoko, who happens to be a lesbian in real life, have commented on the Alex-Stevie dynamic, but…reunion anyone?
