Wizards of Waverly Place showrunner confirms long-standing fan theory about Selena Gomez’s character

Fans have long speculated that there was romantic tension between Gomez’s Alex and Stevie, played by Hayley Kiyoko

Wizards of Waverly Place showrunner Peter Murrieta, has commented on a long-standing fan rumour regarding the sexuality of Selena Gomez’s character.

Gomez rose to fame on the Disney Channel sitcom about a magical family, which aired from 2007 to 2012.

In 2010, Hayley Kiyoko made a guest appearance as Stevie Nichols, an evil wizard. Throughout the four episodes she was in, fans theorised that there was romantic chemistry between Stevie and Gomez’s character Alex Russo.

Appearing on the Wizards of Waverly Pod recap podcast on Monday (27 March), writer Murrieta confirmed the rumours when asked ​​if there were any storylines on the show he wished he’d been able to explore further.

“Easy, easy, easy,” Murrietta replied. “I wished we could have played more with what was quite obvious to a lot of us, which was the relationship between Stevie and Alex.”

“We weren’t able to in that time, but it was pretty clear to all of us what that relationship was. And that would have been fun.”

Presenter Jennifer Stone said that “just a few years down the line” they could have explored that relationship more, with her co-host David DeLuise saying: “Nowadays, that could happen.”

“Yeah, they did it,” Murrieta said. “Disney Channel has had [LGBT+] characters, and they did it. At that time, it wasn’t a thing.

Gomez (right) and Kiyoko on the teen sitcom (Disney)

“But we got as close as we could… Pretty close. It was pretty much there. That would have been great.”

Kiyoko, who is a lesbian, spoke last year about her experience of playing the character of Stevie on Wizards of Waverly Place before she herself had come out.

“At this time, I wasn’t openly queer, and so when I was on Wizards, I think anytime I was doing a show I felt very insecure or exposing myself as a flaming lesbian,” she said.

“But obviously, the fans who have watched the show, Stevie is a part of their gay awakening, and I wasn’t able to mask my lesbian energy very much in the character.”