Shelena Gomez is making a return to her old stomping grounds with the debut of her new Hulu show, ’Only Murders in the Building’. She hasn’t acted on a TV show since ’Wizards of Waverly Place’ ended in 2012, and Selena says the experience is quite different than that of her teenage years — when she, in her words, “signed (her) life away to Disney.”
As noted by ’Entertainment Tonight’, Selena shared that ’Only Murders in the Building’ differs from ’Wizards’ in many ways, most notably that it suits where she is in her life and career. “I signed my life away to Disney at a very young age and I didn’t know what I was doing,” Selena said of the early days of her career while speaking with reporters at the TCA Summer 2021 Tour. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just running around on set.”
‘Only Murders’ is about a trio of New York City tenants who have to deal with a mysterious death in their building; Selena plays a big fan of true crime podcasts, and comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short join her as the other two tenants. “What I’d say is the level of sophistication of the material is the first reason why I wanted to do this,” she said of the project, noting that her character is her actual age, which has been rare for her. She also shared that working with Short and Martin made her feel like a “sponge,” wanting to soak up all of their experience. “They’ve been doing this longer than I’ve been alive and I would be so lucky to have a career that’s lasted that long,” she said of her costars.
It seems the feeling is mutual. “Selena grounds everything in this dry, hilarious delivery. It was a dream to work with this brilliant young lady,” said Short, while Martin added, “the camera loves her.” We don’t have much longer to wait to see this dynamic trio in action, as ’Only Murders in the Building’ hits Hulu on August 31.