Wizards of Waverly Place on Every Friday at 8:30 on the Disney Channel.

Scifi Magazine - July 2 Display

Amanda Tappings speaks on Pete Shanahan

Carter is going to upset most of the male population by carrying on with the very sexy policeman Pete in season eight. Looking very serious, Tapping reveals, " I've actually upset most of the female population by having my character have an affair with this very delectable young man, because I've betrayed my one true love, and lost complete integrity of the character as a human being. At least according to the letters I've been getting.

There's a very interesting, very big section of fandom called the 'Shippers, and they find the whole relationship with Pete quite distasteful. And yet I say to the 'Shippers, Carter has had no relationship experience in the truest sense for over seven years. I mean, the last relationship experience she really had was with her ex-fiance, who truned out to be a megalomaniacal freak."

Raising a finger and her voice, she says "You might recall the episode in season one when she went back and he had taken over a planet, as one's ex-boyfriend does. I don't think that outcome did much for her confidence, and I think the relationship with Pete does. " Speeding up her speech and saying the whole sentence in one very quick breath, she shouts, "I think it's rounding her out as a person, and I think that any experience she gets in the love department, in terms of how to foster and keep a relationship, and how to open herself up and open her heart up, will only serve her for the future when she does eventually get together with O'Neill"

Noting the shocked silence from her interviewer, who fears that Tapping has just let loose with a spoiler, she quickly adds, "No. I did't really mean that. I mean, for sure, Carter loves O'Neill. She adores him, and she's allowed herself the knowledge that she cannot keep pining for this man that she can never have. Plus, as a professional and as a woman, it's bordering pathetic if she hangs on. It doesn't mean that she has any less feelings for O'Neill or that she's not attracted to him. She still has deep feelings of love for him, as is evidenced even after she meets Pete. She still shows it to O'Neill, and that's never going to go away, but I think what she's learned to do is to be a pragmatist about it and say, 'OK! I can't have this guy, and he is pretty fantastic, but this guy over here is not so bad either.'

"I think it's really smart that she thinks like that. I know some fans aren't pleased. I know that they call him Stalker Pete because he did a background check on Carter, and again I say, she didn't know. She is not aware of what he did. She knows he followed her to the stakeout, but that's his cop instinct. It's just human nature to be inquisitive, and if you add to the fact that the person is a cop, and knows that the person that you love is going to be in danger, his actions are completely excusable. I would do the same thing, so I don't think any less of him for that... Plus he's cuteand he's charming and a great kisser."