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Selena Gomez says her ’Only Murders’ and ’Wizards of Waverly Place’ characters have a lot in common

By Megan Stone Jun 30, 2022 | 3:00 PM


Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu

Selena Gomez agrees her Wizards of Waverly Place character, Alex Russo, has a lot in common with Mabel, whom she plays on her new show, Only Murders in the Building.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the “Lose You to Love Me” singer joked how both series center on a trio of eccentric people. But, while one show deals with magical powers, and the other deals with, well, murder, Selena says her characters could be one and the same.

“I feel like Mabel is an older version of Alex in a way,” the Grammy nominee disclosed, adding she “a thousand percent” channeled what she learned on her Disney Channel show on her newest series.

“I adored being on that show so much. I felt like I did learn a lot,” Selena explained. “We actually had great writers — we had two writers that were on Friends — and we had an incredible director that we used for most of our seasons. We got really lucky. I still look back at that and laugh at certain things just because I thought it was so fun, and we tried.”

Selena turned her attention to Only Murders and said the show helped revive her love of acting. The “Wolves” singer admitted she placed her music career over acting gigs for several years, which is why she decided to “take some time for my true love, which is film and TV.”

“I’m not sure I was looking for a series, I was just looking for something in general,” she continued. “This was just honestly a wonderful surprise. [My team and I] got the material and responded right away, and I thought it was so cool. I definitely didn’t think it would do this well but I’m definitely happy.”

Only Murders is streaming its second season now on Hulu.

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