Exclusive: Alkaio Thiele, Max Matenko, & Taylor Cora Discuss Joining Wizards Beyond Waverly Place

The Russo Family is set to return in the new Disney Channel series, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. Stars of the series, Alkaio Thiele, Max Matenko, & Taylor Cora, sat down with BB and fellow press members to chat about joining the Wizards family.

On whether the Russo children will discover their own magical abilities:

Alkaio Thiele: “Roman and Milo are definitely being thrown into situations that they’ve never experienced before. Max can speak more to his character, but Roman doesn’t love it. He wants things to be kind of the same all the time and- and so when Billie comes along and starts causing magical chaos, he doesn’t really know how to react and he’s trying to navigate these new situations.”

Max Matenko: “I think it’s the same with Milo, except he kind of really enjoys it. I think he’s always believed in magic and all this crazy stuff that’s going on. I feel like he kind of enjoys all the excitement in his life.”

On working with the special effects:

Alkaio Thiele: “I’ve never really done something with this much magic, sparkles, and effects. I think it’s really cool, because when we’re filming, we just have to act like they’re there, and that’s hard sometimes because, we don’t know what it’s gonna look like and you just kind of have to trust that it’s gonna turn out. But watching it back, you get to see why you were doing the things you were doing and how it all ties together, and I think it’s really cool that you just have to trust and then you’ll get to see how it turns out.”

Taylor Cora: “It’s similar for me. This is my first big role and the show has a lot of special effects, so this is my first time really doing something with special effects. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s a fun challenge and it’s one of the reasons why I love being on the show so much. I really love seeing how it all works out in the end.”

Max Matenko: “I think it’s so interesting too just to see because I as a kid watched a lot of magic shows and fiction shows and it’s interesting to see how this all works out, how this appears, how that appears, and I think it’s just so much fun to be doing that with all the effects.”

On their reaction to finding out they got a role:

Alkaio Thiele: “I was kind of shock. I didn’t really know how process it. And then once it really started to sink in, I realized how much this was gonna change my life and that I was really excited to start this new chapter.”

Taylor Cora: “Similar for me. I was very excited because I had done so many auditions and worked really hard to get the role. But I was also really scared because this is my first big role. And my first being a series regular on a TV show. I’ve never done anything like this before, so I was definitely looking forward to it, but I was also really nervous.”

Max Matenko: “This was my first series regular too and I was amazed how my life had changed in a matter of five minutes. I couldn’t believe what had happened. Because I was just kind of in shock because I had done a little bit of acting. I really wanted to get this role, I love Milo, and when I got it, I was just like “Wow.'”

On the advice they received from David Henrie:

Alkaio Thiele: “He told me, ‘We’re all here for you. This is your place to thrive and it’s also your place to fail. And, um, we’re gonna support you through that. And just know that this is an environment where you’re loved no matter what.'”

Taylor Cora: “I remember David was telling us how he was afraid to ask for help because he didn’t want to seem like he didn’t know what he was doing. But he taught us that it’s okay to not know exactly what you’re doing as long as you ask for help so that you can eventually figure it out.”

Max Matenko: “For me on my first live show, I was just really scared. I had butterflies and he just called us all over and he told us, ‘We’re doing this to make a kid smile, to make a kid laugh’. And I’ve watched Disney and I’ve watched that and I’ve been that kid, so I love that feeling of being able to make the kid laugh and make the kid smile, but you know, I kind of am myself.”

On their first introduction to the franchise and whether it helped with their performance:

Alkaio Thiele: “I didn’t watch the original show until I got the role, or really any show for that matter. When I did start watching it, I kind of knew a little bit about my character, I knew that he was a lot like Justin and so watching Justin, I started to build my character and see what I wanted to take from the original Justin and see what I wanted to do to make him my own as well.”

Taylor Cora: “I hadn’t started watching it until I got the role as well. But one thing I really loved about it was really just the character dynamics and how everyone gets along with each other. I really love the chemistry between every character, and I think that’s one thing that we have in our show as well that I love so much about it.”

Max Matenko: “I had not watched the show until I got the role, but once I did, I watched the whole thing in like a month. But I wasn’t really sure the show really helped me because I wasn’t really sure if Milo was like a smart-type character, a not-so-smart, athletic, not-so-athletic. And then I saw the show and I kind of based my character on bits of Max from the original show, I felt like it was very similar to Max. And David Henrie helped me with how to say lines and stuff and that’s how I kind of portrayed Milo. So that’s why it was really useful.”

On working with Disney alumni, Raven-Symoné on the new season:

Alkaio Thiele: “Raven was so helpful in terms of acting and keeping rhythm. And she had strategies and methods that I never thought of, never heard of before. We all still use them in these episodes, and her advice was so valuable that it’s really elevated my performance.”

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place premieres today, October 29, on Disney Channel.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity