Harry Potter Twist: Kit Harington To Play Gilderoy Lockhart, Replacing Nicholas Hoult In HBO Series

A different Brit will be defending against the dark arts when HBO's "Harry Potter" series airs its second season.

Kit Harington ("Game of Thrones") will now play smarmy Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Gilderoy Lockhart in "Harry Potter" Season 2, replacing the previously announced Nicholas Hoult, TVLine has confirmed.

According to Deadline, which first broke the news of the recast, Hoult had to depart the series adaptation due to scheduling conflicts. But Lockhart will be a familiar role for Harington: He previously voiced the character in the "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" audiobook, which was released in December 2025. Kenneth Branagh portrayed Lockhart in the "Chamber of Secrets" film adaptation.

"Harry Potter" will serve as Harington's fourth prominent TV project at HBO. He previously played Jon Snow in all eight seasons of the premium cabler's fantasy drama "Game of Thrones," and has co-starred as wealthy aristocrat Henry Muck in the network's financial drama "Industry" since 2024; he also led HBO's 2017 miniseries "Gunpowder." Other TV credits include "Modern Love," "Extrapolations," and "Too Much."

Premiering this Christmas on HBO and HBO Max, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" — as Season 1 will be titled — is described as a "faithful" adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novels. Newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton will respectively play the young wizarding trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, while the adult cast includes John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.

Kit Harington's replacement of Nicholas Hoult as Gilderoy Lockhart is the show's second recasting to date: Newcomer Gracie Cochrane, who will play Ginny Weasley in Season 1, left the series ahead of Season 2, though it has yet to be announced who will fill the role in the sophomore season and beyond.

Your thoughts on Harington as the new Lockhart? Drop 'em in a comment below.