Gregg Sulkin has returned to the wizarding world as Mason Greyback, but the comeback in the Wizards Beyond Waverly Place finale came with a major surprise. The four-part ending, which aired on Disney Channel on August 4, revealed that Alex Russo’s first love had died sometime before the events of the sequel series.
Sulkin said he approached the role by focusing on the material in front of him and trusting the creative team to shape the story. He explained that he concentrated on making each scene work as well as possible, while leaving the bigger narrative choices to the writers, whom he described as talented and capable. He also noted that Disney’s long-running success comes from knowing how to handle story directions for its characters.
A return built around old fans and new twists
The original Wizards of Waverly Place ran from 2007 to 2012, and Sulkin joined in season 3 as Mason, a fan-favorite werewolf who became one of Alex’s most popular boyfriends. In Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, the story followed teen wizard Billie as she searched for Alex after learning they were mother and daughter. Alex was then shown trapped in an alternate universe with amnesia, where she reunited with Harper and Mason. At first, it seemed like Mason and Alex might pick up where they left off, with Mason even getting ready to propose, before Alex realized the version of events she was seeing could not be real because Mason had already died.
Sulkin said he also had some creative input when filming the return, including a few callbacks, line tweaks, and small Easter eggs he thought longtime viewers would appreciate. While Mason is dead in the current storyline, he suggested the character may not be gone permanently, teasing the possibility of a future prequel centered on the years before his death. Sulkin added that coming back to the franchise was an easy decision because the original series meant a great deal to him and opened many doors in his career, and he felt any return needed to happen at the right time and in the right story.
Source: usmagazine.com
