Nicholas Hoult has a new role, and it’s a doozy.
HBO’s “Harry Potter” series has cast the “Superman” star as Gilderoy Lockhart for Season 2, Deadline first reported, with the rest of the trade press confirming it within hours.
If the name doesn’t ring a bell, the character will. Lockhart shows up in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” as a preening, self-published wizard-celebrity who lands the Defense Against the Dark Arts job at Hogwarts — and turns out to have no idea what he’s doing. Kenneth Branagh played him in the 2002 film. The Hollywood Reporter has more on how the casting came together.
The character’s whole deal is charm without substance. He’s a five-time winner of Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile Award who turns out to be a fraud, having spent years using Memory Charms to erase other people’s recollections and steal credit for their actual heroics, per Variety. It’s a role that only works if the actor sells both halves — the swagger, and the rot underneath it.
Hoult’s been building toward exactly that kind of part for a while. He currently plays Lex Luthor in the DC movies and will reprise the role in “Man of Tomorrow.” Recent credits include “Nosferatu,” “The Menu,” “Renfield” and “Juror #2” — a run of characters who are charming right up until they aren’t, as Screen Rant points out. Earlier in his career, “The Great” earned him an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe nods for playing a different flavor of vain aristocrat, Russia’s Peter III. He also played a younger version of Luthor in Season 2 of “Peacemaker.” Before any of that, he broke out as a teenager on the UK drama “Skins,” and before even that, as a child actor opposite Hugh Grant in “About a Boy.”
He’s stepping into a cast that’s still filling out. MovieWeb notes he joins Nick Frost as Hagrid, John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as McGonagall and Paapa Essiedu as Snape, all previously announced. Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout remain on as Harry, Hermione and Ron. One recasting is still pending: Ginny Weasley. Original actress Gracie Cochrane won’t be returning, and HBO hasn’t named a replacement, according to TVLine.
Season 2 got its green light in May and starts filming this fall, before Season 1 has even aired. Francesca Gardiner stays on as showrunner, now with Jon Brown, a Season 1 writer, promoted to co-showrunner alongside her. Mark Mylod continues as an executive producer and will direct several episodes. Rowling, Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV round out the EP list, along with David Heyman of Heyday Films, who produced all eight of the original movies, per the official Wizarding World site.
The plan, as HBO has laid it out, is one book per season. That puts “Chamber of Secrets” on track for an eight-episode run similar to Season 1’s. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” is set to debut on HBO and HBO Max on December 25. No date yet for Season 2.
