A casting spell brings Kit Harington to Hogwarts as its newest teacher

There has been a last-minute switch in the Hogwarts' staff room, with Kit Harington joining the new Harry Potter TV series.

The British actor will play Gilderoy Lockhart, the famous wizard who becomes Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher during his second year at Hogwarts.

Harington is replacing Nicholas Hoult, who had to leave the role because of a busy filming schedule. Hoult plays the villain Lex Luthor in the Superman films, but even a supervillain can struggle with a busy diary!

The official Harry Potter Instagram account announced: "Before we begin year two at Hogwarts, there has been a slight change due to schedule: Kit Harington will be stepping into the role of Gilderoy Lockhart."

You may recognise Harington's voice from the How to Train Your Dragon films, in which he played dragon rider Eret. He also voiced the knight Sir Gadabout in the animated adventure Zog.

And, he already knows his new Hogwarts character rather well. Harington voiced Lockhart in audiobooks in 2025 and has described himself as a huge fan of the books.

In the original films the character of Gilderoy Lockhart was played by famous actor Kenneth Branagh.

The first season of the TV series will tell the story of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and is due to arrive on HBO Max this Christmas.

Season two will be based on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where the character of Lockhart plays an important part.

Newcomer Dominic McLaughlin stars as Harry, alongside Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Lox Pratt is Draco Malfoy.

Nick Frost will play Hagrid, Paapa Essiedu is Severus Snape, while John Lithgow has been cast as Professor Dumbledore.