Selena Gomez Compares ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Character to Alex from ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’

Only Murders in the Building features the unlikely trio of Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. Martin and Short are known for their comedic talent, but Gomez has proven to keep up with them through her sarcastic and reserved performance as Mabel. Selena Gomez believes that she can play her Only Murders character easily because she is a grown-up verson of Alex Russo from Wizards of Waverly Place. 

Selena Gomez stars amongst comedy legends in ‘Only Murders in the Building’

Only Murders in the Building stars Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin as three residents of a wealthy New York apartment building. The three have an obsession with true crime podcasts and form their own after a mysterious murder occurs in their building. The Hulu series was a massive hit for the service and was renewed for a second season halfway through its run. 

Gomez plays Mabel, the youngest member of the trio who has a personal connection to the person who was killed. In an interview with The Awardist podcast for Entertainment Weekly, Gomez says she wasn’t expecting the show to be this popular and she wanted to switch to film and television after a long career in music. 

“This was just honestly a wonderful surprise,” Gomez says. “[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.”

Selena Gomez says Mabel is the ‘older version of Alex’ from ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ 

Selena Gomez does have experience with comedy before as she starred as Alex Russo on the Disney Channel sitcom, Wizards of Waverly Place. The series began in 2007 and ended in 2012 with Gomez playing the character for over 100 episodes. Wizards of Waverly Place centered around a family of wizards who had to balance being wizards with being a normal family. 

Selena Gomez tells The Awardist that Mabel comes easily to her because her Only Murders character and Alex are similar in certain ways. She calls Mabel an “older version of Alex in a way.”

“I feel like Mabel is an older version of Alex in a way,” Gomez shares.”I adored being on that show so much. I felt like I did learn a lot. 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.”

‘Only Murders in the Building’ returns for season 2 on Hulu

Selena Gomez returns in season 2 of Only Murders in the Building which debuted on Hulu on June 28. The second season stars the same trio, who are now investigating a murder in which thy are suspects. The new season also brings in several guest stars including Cara Delevingne and Amy Schumer. 

Only Murders in the Building season 2 is now streaming on Hulu. New episodes premiere every Tuesday.