Atreyee Poddar
The wizarding world has a new (in)famous professor. Here's everything you need to know about the casting shakeup taking over your timeline this week.
Deadline broke the news on August 11, and outlets scrambled to confirm within hours: Nicholas Hoult is joining Season 2 of HBO's Harry Potter reboot as Gilderoy Lockhart, the most self-obsessed professor Hogwarts has ever seen.
For anyone who needs a refresher, Lockhart is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher introduced in Chamber of Secrets — a bestselling author whose books are packed with heroic tales of monster-slaying and magical daring-do. The catch: he's more style than substance, and his actual teaching skills leave a lot to be desired. He's vain, he's a five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, and he's basically the human embodiment of a LinkedIn humble-brag.
Kenneth Branagh originated the role in 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, bringing an unmistakable theatrical flair to the character. Hoult now takes on the challenge of putting his own spin on Hogwarts' most delusional celebrity professor.
This casting continues a run of morally complicated characters for Nicholas. He most recently played Lex Luthor opposite David Corenswet in Superman and reprised the role in Peacemaker Season 2. Add in earlier turns in Renfield, Nosferatu, and The Menu, and Lockhart — vain, self-mythologizing, not quite the hero he claims to be — fits right into his recent wheelhouse.
Before all the blockbuster villainy, Nicholas earned an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe nods for playing Russian emperor Peter in Hulu's The Great. He also got his start on the UK teen drama Skins. In other words, HBO is getting an actor who knows how to headline a series.