Surprise: Kit Harington replaces Nicholas Hoult as Gilderoy Lockhart in HBO’s Harry Potter season 2

Well, here's a twist for the new Harry Potter series from HBO: Kit Harington, best known for brooding his way through Game of Thrones, has officially been tapped to play Gilderoy Lockhart in the show's second season. Yes, that Gilderoy Lockhart—the wizard with more hair mousse than magical talent. It's a change-up no one really saw coming, unless you had your ear unreasonably close to the world of audiobook casting.

Season 1 of HBO's Harry Potter series lands on 25 December 2026.

Behind the switch

This wasn't always the plan. Nicholas Hoult originally signed on for Lockhart, presumably expecting spells, stunts, and a criminal overuse of the colour teal. But—classic Hollywood—schedules intervened. HBO knew Lockhart doesn’t even show up till season two, and was determined not to set off a chain of delays in what might be their biggest series ever. Hoult, already juggling two other projects, ended up seeing his involvement clash with the mapped-out filming dates, and his team pulled the plug. Fair play to the bloke; you can’t Apparate between productions, at least not yet.

Luckily for HBO, Kit Harington was waiting in the wings, wand at the ready. Here’s the little detail that makes this casting shuffle somewhat less random than it seems: Harington actually voiced Lockhart in last year’s Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions, so the man already knows his way round the character’s inflated ego. Reflecting on his connection to the source material, Harington admitted,

‘I read it, and like so many generations, I was entranced, and then I was a huge fan all through my teenage years.’

A quick refresher: who is Gilderoy Lockhart?

If you've somehow blanked the second Harry Potter book (Chamber of Secrets) from memory, allow me a quick primer on Lockhart. In the films, Kenneth Branagh set the bar with blonde waves and the world's most insufferably perfect smile. The character's all surface—peacock-bright robes, ceaseless self-promotion, and a trophy cabinet full of Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile awards. The books (and, if he stays true, Harington’s take) make it clear Lockhart’s magical talent barely extends to washing his own hair, but he’s eerily adept with Memory Charms—mainly for covering up his shortcomings. He’s the sort of professor who assigns his own autobiography and requires students to buy eight copies, and you wouldn’t trust him to iron your school robes, let alone teach Defence Against the Dark Arts.

• Gilderoy Lockhart—main antagonist in Chamber of Secrets, infamous for taking credit for others' heroics and nearly everything else
• Previously played by Kenneth Branagh in the films
• Harington voiced Lockhart in the recent full-cast audio adaptation
• Lockhart will debut in HBO’s season two, not the first run
• Original casting: Nicholas Hoult, replaced over conflicts with two other film projects

If you were hoping for Nicholas Hoult’s take on Lockhart, chalk this one up to the hazards of trying to schedule blockbuster TV while juggling the rest of your career. Instead, we get Harington—so at least the wigs will be familiar.