Kit Harington could not sleep once he got sober — the Harry Potter audiobooks fixed it, and now he is in the show
Harington told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that his brain does not switch off at night, and the books became the habit that helps.
If you've been anywhere near the worlds of fantasy telly or mildly tortured leading men in the past decade, you know Kit Harington — Mr Game of Thrones himself, Jon Snow in all his gloomy glory. Now he's stepping right into the Harry Potter universe, playing none other than Gilderoy Lockhart in HBO's much-hyped TV adaptation. But apparently, this Potter business is more personal for him than most people guessed.
From Rehab to the Wizarding World
Harington's been candid about his issues post-Thrones, and how the end of all those years "in the North" didn't exactly leave him in a state of zen. After filming wrapped, he landed in rehab—more than once, by the sounds of it. He told The Times previously that he stuck it out only briefly before deciding he'd try going solo. As he put it at the time, group therapy circles just weren't for him:
Here’s what Harington told The Times: ‘I entered rehab drunk, sobered up in there and went, “F— this, not you guys in a circle. No, thank you.” And I left that pretty quick and said, “I’ll try to deal with this by myself,” which didn’t work after about four years.’
If you're wondering where Harry Potter comes into this, it's not to do with Hogwarts therapy sessions. Harington opened up on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, talking about how he's got an overactive brain—especially at night. Apparently, when he quit booze, that anxious, swirling insomnia only got worse. That's when he stumbled on the audiobooks of J.K. Rowling's wizarding saga as a kind of late-night brain-settling habit.
As Harington explained to Josh Horowitz on the podcast: 'My brain is incredibly busy, especially at night, and I’ve always found going to bed very difficult, like, and my brain doesn’t turn off. When I got sober, that got especially bad. So I started listening to Harry Potter audiobooks, and now they’re the thing I listen to every night. So they have a very special place in my heart, and when I knew they were doing this show, I think that’s a brilliant idea.'
So yes, the bloke who played Jon Snow has spent bedtime with Stephen Fry reading out spells, magical mayhem and adolescent angst, just like the rest of us (or at least anyone needing a bit of harmless background magic to get to sleep).
A New (Old) Role: Gilderoy Lockhart
For those keeping score, Kit's not entirely new to the world of Harry Potter. He's already played Lockhart as voice work for an audio series, and now he's set to don the (likely far too decorative) robes again for HBO’s live-action version. Lockhart, for the uninitiated, is that insufferably charming fraud from Chamber of Secrets—so a sharp turn from the melancholy Jon Snow.
Read more: Kit Harington took Harry Potter despite the backlash — the reason is a nightly habit at home
- Kit Harington takes over as Gilderoy Lockhart for the HBO live-action adaptation
- He previously voiced the same role in a related audio series
- The show will drop on HBO Max starting 25 December 2026
Harry Potter TV show S1 launches on HBO Max, Christmas Day 2026.
Kit’s also admitted that he doesn't exactly love multitasking—anyone expecting him to juggle roles, interviews, and wizard duels simultaneously may want to lower those expectations. But for now, fans can expect to see Snow turn showman, just as soon as Lockhart sashays onto our screens this Christmas.