Wizards Beyond Waverly Place: what happened to Max? The show gives one answer, Jake T. Austin gives another
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place ran three seasons on Disney Channel, from October 2024 to a four-part finale on August 4, 2026. Justin was back. Alex was back. Jerry, Theresa, Harper, and Mason all turned up at some point. Max Russo did not. There are two separate explanations for that, and they don't match.
On screen, Max is alive, rich, and busy. The first season establishes that he took the Waverly Sub Station — the family business he inherited after losing the wizard competition in the 2012 finale — and franchised it into a billion-dollar chain. He's living on a yacht. Off screen, Jake T. Austin says he was asked about returning once, said yes, and never heard back.
What Austin says happened
Austin posted on his social media on August 6, 2026, two days after the finale dropped:
"I was asked back in 2020 if I was interested in reprising my role and said that I was 100% in," he wrote.
He added that the production went a different direction and his character wasn't part of the equation, then wished his former castmates well. Austin played Max across all four seasons of the original show, which ran 2007 to 2012, and he's the only member of the Russo sibling trio who never appeared in the sequel.
What the producers say
David Henrie, who starred as Justin and served as an executive producer on the reboot, gave TVLine a different account after the finale aired. He said he would have loved to have Austin on the show, that they tried to get him, and that it didn't work out. Which is not quite "we never asked."
Who else was missing
The Max situation wasn't isolated. The finale's guest roster was thinner than fans expected:
- David DeLuise (Jerry Russo) — guest-starred twice in season 1, sat out the finale entirely.
- Maria Canals-Barrera (Theresa Russo) — recurring, never a series regular.
- Jennifer Stone (Harper Finkle) — brief cameo only.
- Gregg Sulkin (Mason Greyback) — also a cameo.
- Selena Gomez (Alex Russo) — the one big return, appearing multiple times across the run.
DeLuise wasn't quiet about it either. In an Instagram comment on an Entertainment Tonight video, he called the send-off a missed opportunity and said it wouldn't be over if the original wizards had really been there.
For the record: Max lost the wizard competition in the original 2012 finale and got the sandwich shop as a consolation prize.
Fourteen years later, that consolation prize is worth a billion dollars and he's the only Russo with a boat.