British actor and Game of Thrones alumnus Kit Harington will play the good-looking and vain Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart in season 2 of the HBO Harry Potter TV show. Just last month, HBO announced that Nicholas Hoult (Skins, X-Men) had been cast as the narcissistic professor, but he was later forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. (Hoult is due to reprise his role as Lex Luthor in the James Gunn-directed Superman sequel.)
Harington, a lifelong ‘Potter’ fan, recently provided the voice of Gilderoy Lockhart in Audible’s Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions. Lockhart plays a primary role in the second book, Chamber of Secrets, and appears briefly in the fifth novel, Order of the Phoenix.
Kenneth Branagh played Lockhart in the Chamber of Secrets film (2002), but Lockhart’s role was scrapped from the fifth film, Order of the Phoenix (2007). Interestingly, Hugh Grant was the production team’s first choice to play Lockhart in the film series, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts.
On a recent Today Show appearance, Harington affirmed his love of the ‘Potter’ books, saying ‘I love the films, but with this, they can really explore the books at their fullest, and for a book nerd like me, that was a really great idea.’
The first season of the HBO Harry Potter TV series, an eight-episode adaptation of Philosopher’s Stone, begins airing on Christmas Day. Chamber of Secrets is now filming for a release in either 2027 or 2028.
