Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Series Finale Reveals [Spoiler]'s Shocking Fate; David Henrie Says It Was The 'Cleanest' Choice

Warning: This interview spoils the events of the "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" series finale.

The four-part series finale of "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place," which aired August 4 on Disney Channel, pit the Russo family against the nefarious Nicodemus Penwulf (Tobias Jelinek) for one last battle — and not everyone made it out alive.

Following the dramatic events of the Season 2 finale, this shortened final outing centered around Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) rescuing Alex (Selena Gomez), who was recently revealed to be Billie's biological mother, from a mysterious alternate dimension. Doing so also required Billie to reunite with her estranged father Damien (Brandon Micheal Hall), who also happens to be Nicodemus' son. Hey, families are complicated sometimes.

While navigating her way through the various dimensions, Alex also reunited with alternate versions of her childhood BFF Harper (Jennifer Stone) and ex-boyfriend Mason (Gregg Sulkin), the latter of whom was revealed to be — wait for it — dead. In this reality, Alex and Harper were still roommates, and Harper convinced Alex that Mason was coming over to propose. But when the big moment arrived, things didn't go quite as Harper predicted.

"I can't propose to you... and you know why," Mason told Alex. "Think about it. This isn't how it's supposed to be. Why can't I propose to you?" After taking an emotional beat, Alex replied, "Because you're dead. You're gone. That's why all of this feels weird, it's not real."

So, why did "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" bring back Mason, whom Alex was still dating at the end of the original series, only to reveal that he passed away at some point between the two shows? The answer is simple — and also extremely complicated.

"We always wanted to bring Mason back, but it's a double-edged sword any route you choose," star and executive producer David Henrie tells TVLine. "Let's say they broke up, fans would be furious because they were the 'best relationship ever.' You know, how could you break them up and then have her go with a different guy? That doesn't make any sense. And then why do we even bring him back? So it was a double-edged sword, and the cleanest version was to kill him."

While fans struggle to process the news of Mason's apparent death, their next question is obvious: How did Mason die? His cause of death wasn't revealed in the series finale, but as both a star and executive producer of "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place," David Henrie has a few ideas.

"Look, he was an old werewolf, and werewolves pass on," Henrie tells TVLine. "Maybe he didn't get enough moonlight, I don't know. He passed on, but he will always have a special place in [Alex's] heart, and he actually got to contribute to this story in this way."

To be fair, the finale did offer a bit of a silver lining along with Mason's death, allowing Alex and her late ex to find closure, even if it was in an alternate dimension. After reminding Alex about her daughter and husband in the real world, he left her with these final words: "I'll always love you, Alex Russo, and I'll always be watching over you."

You might also be wondering how actor Gregg Sulkin took the news of his character's death, but according to David Henrie, we have nothing to worry about there.

"He totally understood it, he totally got it," Henrie tells TVLine, adding that Sulkin said, "Yeah, it would be tough if you kept me in the picture. That would have been a tough one for fans to get their mind around."

Speaking of fan reactions, Henrie says fans were "furious" when it was revealed that Alex was Billie's mother, if only because it meant that Mason couldn't possibly be Billie's father.

"When we revealed that Alex had a kid in the second season, fans were furious because, obviously, that kid can't come from Gregg," Henrie says. "She had to have some sort of ethnic mix that would make up the way she looks, and clearly that's not coming from this British dude. So fans were furious that he wasn't the dad. We got so many messages. People were furious."

In happier news, the "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" series finale did not kill off Harper. In fact, reuniting with her BFF in an alternate dimension actually inspired Alex to reconnect with her in real life. A win for friendship!

But that doesn't mean the show didn't have a little extra fun with Harper's return. At one point, Harper — who famously had a crush on Justin during "Wizards of Waverly Place" — met his wife Giada (Mimi Gianopulos), and finally said what viewers have been thinking since Day 1: "So, you're dating a redhead," Harper told Justin. "That's funny. ... Well, it's not ha-ha funny, it's more like laugh-so-I-don't-cry funny!"

"When we cast Mimi, we didn't think that at all," Henrie tells TVLine of the comparison between the two actresses. "We just cast her because we loved her. She's great. But shortly after, one of the producers turned to me and was like, 'She kind of looks like Jen Stone.' And then all of us were like, 'Oh yeah, she totally looks like Jen Stone!' And then we started riffing on jokes. We knew we had to figure out how to get them together one day. So that was not intentional at all, but it was figured out after the fact."

Following Alex's "disappearance" in the Season 2 finale, online rumors falsely claimed that the character had died, something "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" quickly debunked in the series finale. During the first episode, which was directed by Selena Gomez, a package was delivered to the Russos' house for Alex's "next of kin," prompting Roman to clarify, "She's not dead!"

"This is just X culture and social media culture — someone clipped it, posted that she was dead, and everyone just believed it," David Henrie tells TVLine. "It was literally the number one trend on Twitter for over 24 hours. Everyone believed it. They believed that we straight-up killed her."

Henrie recalls hopping on a call with other producers shortly after Alex's "death" began to trend online: "I was like, 'What the heck do we do? Everyone thinks we killed her.' And then all of us were like, 'You know what? Great. No press is bad press. Let people talk, let them figure it out."

Fortunately, "the fans who actually watch the show started getting engaged, and they were like, 'You should just watch it, there's no way they killed her,'" Henrie says.

The final shot of the "Beyond" finale takes fans back to the Russos' sub shop from the original "Wizards of Waverly Place" for a nostalgic look at the family in their happy place. The series ends on a shot of Justin and his wife Giada, their sons Roman and Milo, Alex and her estranged husband Damien, their daughter Billie, her bestie Winter, and family matriarch Theresa all chowing down and making new memories. 

"It was crazy," David Henrie tells TVLine of recreating a portion of the sub shop set for this final shot. "It was like going back in your college commissary, sitting in the seat that you used to sit in, and getting the meal that you used to get. All of those feelings rushed over us. Selena and I spent so much time in that setting when we shot the original show. For lunches or dinners, we'd all sit in the sub station at the tables, and we'd bond. We took naps there! I don't know how many years it's been, but 15 years later or whatever, to be sitting there really hits you."

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