EXCLUSIVE: Game of Thrones star Kit Harington is joining another tentpole fantasy series for HBO. He will play Gilderoy Lockhart in Season 2 of Harry Potter. Harington replaces Nicholas Hoult who was originally cast in the role but left over scheduling issues.
HBO had to work around two pre-existing Hoult projects; when filming of the Gilderoy Lockhart scenes had to shift within the Season 2 production schedule, that was no longer feasible, and the Superman actor was let out of his deal. HBO reached out to Harington who was available — and excited to take over the role.
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While this is technically a recasting, Harington will portray a character he has already played — he voiced Gilderoy Lockhart in the star-studded Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions released late last year.
In a featurette released by Audible at the time, Harrington spoke of his fondness for the Harry Potter books since childhood; he was the same age as Harry when the first novel by J.K. Rowling came out.
“I read it, and like so many generations, I was entranced, and then I was a huge fan all through my teenage years,” he said.
Gilderoy Lockhart is a major character in the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, who was portrayed in the second movie by Kenneth Branagh. He a notoriously vain, boastful and fame-obsessed wizard well versed in Memory Charms who is recruited by Dumbledore as Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. A five-time winner of Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile Award, Lockhart authored many books on dark creatures and his supposed encounters with them.
“I think there’s a little bit of Gilderoy in all of us,” Harington said in the same featurette, recalling how, early in his rise to stardom, he may have flaunted his celebrity status to get into a French club.
Greenlighted in May, Season 2 of Harry Potter is scheduled to begin filming this fall, ahead of the Christmas premiere of Season 1, titled Harry Potterand the Philosopher’s Stone. It will air on HBO and be available to stream exclusively on HBO Max.
Dominic McLaughlin stars as the titular Hogwarts wizard. Alastair Stout plays Harry’s best friend Ron Weasley, and Arabella Stanton portrays bookworm Hermione Granger. Key returning cast members also include Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape and Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall.
Season 1 of the series, based on Rowling’s hugely popular books, is written and executive produced by showrunner Francesca Gardiner. Mark Mylod serves as executive producer and directed multiple episodes. Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films also executive produce the series, produced by HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television.
Jon Brown, a writer on the first season, has been elevated to co-showrunner for Season 2 alongside Gardiner.
This marks Harington’s third series for HBO. He played the lead, Jon Snow, on all eight seasons of Game of Thrones. The English actor, who is currently a series regular on HBO’s Industry, is repped by United Agents, CAA and attorney Karl Austen.
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