Actor Kit Harington has been confirmed to join HBO's upcoming Harry Potter television adaptation in the role of Gilderoy Lockhart, replacing Nicholas Hoult who faced scheduling conflicts.
Kit Harington, best recognised for his eight-season role as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, has been cast as Gilderoy Lockhart in HBO's ambitious Harry Potter television series. The casting announcement was confirmed by HBO to the BBC and shared on the official Harry Potter Instagram account, noting that the change was made due to scheduling adjustments.
Harington replaces actor Nicholas Hoult, who was initially announced for the role earlier this month. According to reports, HBO needed to release Hoult from his contract due to his prior commitments conflicting with a revised production schedule for the series. The Emmy-award-winning actor brings familiarity to the character, having previously voiced Lockhart in Audible's full-cast audio editions of the Harry Potter books released last year.
The new HBO series features newcomer Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, with Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton playing Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger respectively. The supporting cast includes Oscar-nominated Jon Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid. The production is directed and produced by Mark Mylod, who collaborated with Harington on Game of Thrones, alongside author JK Rowling serving as executive producer.
Lockhart, a vain wizard and author of books about his purported encounters with dark creatures, serves as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor during Harry's second year at Hogwarts. The character was previously portrayed by Kenneth Branagh in the Warner Bros film adaptations. The first season, based on The Philosopher's Stone, is scheduled to premiere on HBO Max this Christmas, with subsequent seasons planned to adapt each of Rowling's seven books across approximately a decade of production.
