‘Only Murders’ role is similar to ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’

Selena Gomez’s Disney Channel days may be long gone, but the “Only Murders in the Building” star still holds the time close to her heart.

The “Love You Like a Love Song” singer, 29, feels like her Hulu series is an offshoot of her old sitcom, “Wizards of Waverly Place.”

She explained that her character in “Only Murders,” Mabel, is a more mature adaptation of her Disney character Alex Russo.

“Wizards of Waverly Place” concluded a decade ago, but Gomez still “1000%” uses skills from the show while shooting the murder mystery show, she recently told “The Awardist” podcast.

“I feel like Mabel is an older version of Alex in a way,” she quipped.

“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,” Gomez said.

“Wizards” lasted for 106 episodes and aired from 2007 until 2012. The series followed Alex, a teen wizard, as she navigates high school life with her friends and family while getting into a medley of mayhem along the way.

“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,” Gomez noted.

The “Spring Breakers” star also discussed Mabel’s bitingly funny, sarcastic demeanor as well as how she was able to add some improvisation to her acting alongside co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short.

“We would have these freedom takes where they would throw something at me,” Gomez said.

The Texas native then pointed out how her “reaction was honestly what I think my character would do because half the time I’m like, ‘I don’t get what you’re trying to do, but it works.’”

“[Mabel has] rubbed off on me a little bit. I love being quick, and I kind of steal Steve and Marty’s jokes every now and then. She’s fun,” Gomez teased.