HBO's Harry Potter: Hoult to play Lockhart

Actor Nicholas Hoult, known for his role as Lex Luthor in the new «Superman», was approved for the role of Professor Goldsmith Lockhart in the second season of the HBO series in the Harry Potter universe — the same one where Harry and company will encounter the Chamber of Secrets for the first time.

Casting officially confirmed

HBO Max announced the news on August 11 on their social networks, playing on the character’s signature vanity: the post hinted at the hero’s autobiography “Magical Me” and suggested preparing autographs in advance. Thus, the studio officially closed one of the most discussed casting issues of recent months — who will play the narcissistic swindler from magic.

The 36-year-old Brit will play the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who will appear at Hogwarts during Harry's second year. According to the book, Lokons is a self-proclaimed hero of the magical world, the author of a dozen bestsellers about his own exploits, which in fact were not performed by him at all: the professor simply erased the memory of real heroes with a spell. Kenneth Branagh played the role in the 2002 film — and comparisons to his version of the character are bound to start pouring in as soon as the first footage is released.

Why the choice is not obvious, but logical

Hoult has been methodically building a career as a Hollywood villain in recent years: Lex Luthor in Superman (he will reprise the role in the sequel Man of Tomorrow), a maniac restaurateur in Menu, a serial killer in Juror Number Two, the Russian impostor Peter III in The Great, for which the actor received Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. Lokons is not quite a villain in the classical sense, rather a grotesque poser, but the acting style is the same: charm bordering on falsehood.

This purpose also has its own irony, notes xrust. A few years ago, Hoult admitted that as a child he auditioned for the role of Harry Potter himself — but the role then went to Daniel Radcliffe. In 2024, answering a question about possible participation in the new series, the actor jokingly stated that he was ready to play an 11-year-old wizard even now: glasses and a painted scar would be enough. As a result, he still didn’t get the role of a schoolboy, but he did get the role of a typical professor.

What is known about the series itself

The first season, titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, will premiere on December 25 and will be available on HBO Max. The main roles have already been cast: Dominic McLaughlin plays Harry, Arabella Stanton plays Hermione, Alastair Stout plays Ron. Confirmed among the adult cast are John Lithgow (Dumbledore), Janet McTeer (McGonagall), Paapa Essiedu (Snape) and Nick Frost (Hagrid). The studio officially renewed the second season, based on The Chamber of Secrets, back in May and is scheduled to begin filming this fall.

The project was conceived as a film adaptation as close as possible to the original source — with an eye to several seasons, one for each Rowling book, and with a claim to show the world of wizards wider than the film franchise of 2001-2011 did.

What does this mean for the Russian viewer

The series is officially unavailable in Russia: HBO Max does not work in the local market, and broadcasting is completely dependent on VPN and foreign subscriptions. Nevertheless, interest in the project among the Russian-speaking audience remains high — primarily due to the recognition of the franchise and the controversy surrounding JK Rowling herself, whose statements about transgender people periodically become the reason for public statements by the actors of the project (the actress playing Aunt Petunia recently spoke on this topic).

For domestic viewers, the story with Lokons is also interesting because this is the first truly comedic character, whose performance will inevitably be compared with the version of Kenneth Branagh — an actor well known from the Soviet-Russian box office of the nineties and two thousand.

Sources: deadline.com, hollywoodreporter.com, syfy.com

Xrust “Harry Potter” from HBO: Hoult will play Lockhart