Nicholas Hoult Is Gilderoy Lockhart: HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Casts Its Most Charming Smile for Season 2
Gilderoy Lockhart would be thrilled with today’s headlines. Nicholas Hoult — currently lighting up screens as Lex Luthor in Superman — has been cast as the wizarding world’s most self-adoring celebrity in Season 2 of HBO’s Harry Potter series.
Hoult steps into the role made famous by Kenneth Branagh in 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: the best-selling author, Order of Merlin recipient, and incoming Defence Against the Dark Arts professor whose dazzling résumé doesn’t quite survive close inspection. Deadline first broke the news, and HBO Max quickly made it official with a caption worthy of the professor himself: “Magical Me indeed 🥵 Now, how many autographs would you like?”
From Lex Luthor to Hogwarts
Hoult arrives with one of the busiest résumés in Hollywood — an Emmy-nominated run in The Great, plus Nosferatu, The Menu, Mad Max: Fury Road, and the X-Men films — and he’ll reprise Lex Luthor in Man of Tomorrow before heading to Hogwarts. There’s a full-circle twist, too: as a child, Hoult auditioned for the role of Harry himself, which ultimately went to Daniel Radcliffe.
Season 2, adapting Chamber of Secrets, was greenlit in May and begins filming this fall — before Season 1 has even premiered. Season 1 writer Jon Brown has been elevated to co-showrunner alongside Francesca Gardiner for the new season.
Where things stand
- Premiere: Season 1, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, debuts Christmas Day — December 25, 2026 — on HBO and HBO Max
- Season 2: adapts Chamber of Secrets; filming begins this fall
- Cast: Dominic McLaughlin (Harry), Arabella Stanton (Hermione), Alastair Stout (Ron), John Lithgow (Dumbledore), Paapa Essiedu (Snape), Nick Frost (Hagrid) — and now Nicholas Hoult (Gilderoy Lockhart)
- Creative team: showrunner Francesca Gardiner, with Jon Brown elevated to co-showrunner for Season 2; Mark Mylod directs multiple episodes
Is Hoult the right wizard for Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile Award? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to follow along for more Harry Potter news.
