Emmy and Golden Globe nominee, actor Kit Harington, was recently chosen to play a supporting role in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series. According to Variety, Harington spoke about him being officially cast as Gilderoy Lockhart for the TV adaptation of the iconic book series.
Harington shared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast about his personal connection to the series, including him being is a big fan of the movies and the original UK audiobook series read by Stephen Fry (Bones, The Hobbit).
“I listen to the Stephen Fry audiobooks. And I do that because my brain is incredibly busy, especially at night, and I’ve always found going to bed very difficult. My brain doesn’t turn off,” Harington said via Variety. “When I got sober, that got especially bad. And so I started listening to Harry Potter audiobooks, and now they’re the thing I listen to every night. So they have a very special place in my heart.”
Harington’s character, Gilderoy Lockhart, is a teacher (and more) at Hogwarts, the school for witches and wizards where the main characters Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger will attend, stay, and have great adventures together.
With more characters of the series being announced for casting, HBO has already renewed the series for a second season ahead of its release. Harington’s will appear in season two of the series due to his character not appearing until the second book of the novel series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which the second season will be entirely based on. Filming for the second season of the series will start this fall on the Warner Bros. Studio Leavesden in England.
Audiences will have to wait and see how Harington will fit into the role of Gilderoy Lockhart and how he will play into the character. Harington had been cast in the series as a replacement of Nicholas Hoult leaving the role due to scheduling conflicts.
Harington is not new to HBO, with him being on other very popular and highly rated HBO TV shows such as Game of Thrones as Jon Snow (direct prequel to House of the Dragon), and Industry as Henry Muck, with both shows currently available on HBO Max platform. But if you want to watch Harington now, he is currently starring in a historical drama called A Tale of Two Cities playing as Sydney Carton on MGM+, which Harington is also credited as an executive producer. Two episodes have premiered of the series so far.
The upcoming reboot of the Harry Potter series will have an eight episode run of the first season and will premiere globally this year on Christmas, December 25, 2026 on HBO.
