The Good Luck Charlie cast loves who Mia Talerico turned out to be.
But she was only a toddler when she starred on the Disney Channel series alongside Jason Dolley, Bridgit Mendler and Bradley Steven Perry in the 2010s. As such, Jason recently shared that it was a little bit like the now-16-year-old was meeting her former costars for the first time when they reunited a few years ago.
“I saw her at Bridgit’s engagement party,” he told E! News’ Francesca Amiker in an exclusive interview at the Wizards Beyond Waverly Place premiere Oct. 28. “It was so strange because we all knew her, and she was looking at us like she knew she was supposed to know who we were but genuinely did not know who we were.”
As he put it, “It was like, ‘Oh right, her brain was still forming when we were carrying her around the set and stuff.” (For more from Jason and others on the Wizards Beyond Waverly Place red carpet, tune into E! News tonight, Oct. 29, at 11 p.m.)
And while the 33-year-old was happy to see his former castmate at the celebration of Bridgit’s engagement to now-husband Griffin Cleverly back in 2019, he emphasized the mental adjustment he had to make.
“It’s just a wild perspective shift,” he added. “This is a human being that has grown up and has their perspective on things. It was good, but it’s scary.”
But even if it’s shocking to see her all grown up, Jason admitted that he is proud of Mia’s segue out of the spotlight.
“It’s great,” the Cory in the House alum added. “I understand what it’s like to kind of grow up in the spotlight, so I feel for her in that way. But it seems like she’s doing things that make her happy and that’s honestly all you can ask for in this life, so if she’s doing what she loves then who cares?”
Indeed, earlier this year Mia surprised Good Luck Charlie fans with a rare life update, revealing she had started her sophomore year of high school. The teen quipped in the caption, “Cue the comments about feeling old.”
Meanwhile, Jason is keen on staying in the entertainment sphere, and as Wizards of Waverly Place’s reboot premieres Oct. 29, the Disney alum is manifesting the same fate for his own series.
“I think there’s lots of interesting stories to be told there,” he said of a possible Good Luck Charlie reboot, noting he has some ideas of where the character could go. “I think PJ’s trajectory is very interesting. You know, going into the role of cooking and maybe he becomes a Gordon Ramsey type.”
Of course, Jason noted he’s not the only one to make the call, adding, “I’m putting it out there, so we’ll see what happens."