Kit Harington is the new Gilderoy Lockhart… and I actually kind of love this

[Dumbledore]

Okay, this is one of those Harry Potter casting announcements that I did NOT have on my 2026 bingo card.

Kit Harington, best known as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, has been cast as Gilderoy Lockhart for season two of the new Harry Potter TV series.

 

 

And yes, there is a bit of a twist.

 

Nicholas Hoult had originally been announced for the role only a couple of weeks ago, but he has now had to leave because of scheduling conflicts with his other projects. Kit Harington is stepping in instead. But here’s the bit I find genuinely interesting…

 

Harington has actually already played Lockhart. Well, technically, he voiced him in the full cast audiobook of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. So he has already had a go at the character, just without the ridiculous robes, perfect hair and enormous ego.

Now he gets to do the whole thing on screen. And honestly, I can see it.

 

 

Lockhart is supposed to be charming, ridiculously confident, slightly suspicious and completely convinced that everyone in the room is there to admire him. Basically, a man who would absolutely have his own Instagram account and somehow make every post about himself.

 

The new series is adapting each of the seven books as its own season, so season two will cover The Chamber of Secrets. That means we should get considerably more Lockhart than we did in the original 2002 film. And that is probably the biggest thing I’m looking forward to with this series.

The films had to squeeze enormous books into roughly two and a half hours. The TV series has much more room to breathe, which means characters like

 

Lockhart can hopefully get more of the ridiculousness that made them memorable in the books. The first season is currently scheduled to arrive on Christmas Day 2026, with Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Arabella Stanton as Hermione and Alastair Stout as Ron. John Lithgow is Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu is Snape and Nick Frost is Hagrid. So what do we think? Was Nicholas Hoult your ideal Lockhart and you're gutted he's gone? Or does Kit Harington actually make more sense for the role?

 

Personally… I'm intrigued.

 

And now I desperately want to see the first footage of him saying, “Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class…” with that completely shameless Lockhart confidence.