Kit Harington has already played Gilderoy Lockhart. Not on a set, not in a screen test, but in a full-cast Audible recording of the Harry Potter books that landed barely a year ago. Now he’s doing it again, this time on HBO.
That’s an unusual thing to hand an actor: a second run at a character with the muscle memory still warm.
The one cast member who isn’t starting from zero
HBO’s Harry Potter series is built almost entirely on fresh faces stepping into roles the films already defined. Harington is the exception. He’s the rare name in this ensemble who has lived inside his character before, and he doesn’t sound remotely coy about how much he wants it.
“I’m a huge Potter fan. I’ve got to be honest, he’s one of my favourite characters, so, to be offered to play him is a real dream. I’ve had a taste of him [in the audiobook] and felt my way around him. He’s just a wonderful creation,” Harington said in a recent interview following the announcement.
Read that again and note what he’s describing. Not preparation. Reacquaintance.
Kenneth Branagh set the bar, and it’s a strange one
In the original films, adapted for the big screen between 2001 and 2011, Lockhart belonged to Kenneth Branagh. An actor and filmmaker of that stature taking on one of the Wizarding World’s most famous characters made sense on paper and worked on screen.
Then Audible recorded the books with a full cast and handed Lockhart to Harington instead. So the man arriving at HBO with a preloaded version of this performance is following Branagh with his own interpretation already on the record.
Eight episodes a year changes what Lockhart can be
Each year at Hogwarts is currently set to play out as its own season, running eight episodes, at least for season 1. That’s a lot of runway for a story that once had to fit inside a single feature-length slot.
Lockhart is exactly the kind of character who benefits from that math. A preening fraud gets funnier and sadder the more time you spend watching him work the room.
Nicholas Hoult was announced for the part first
Here’s the wrinkle worth remembering. Before Harington was cast, Nicholas Hoult was announced to be playing Gilderoy Lockhart in the show.
Hoult broke out young in About a Boy, holding his own as a child opposite Hugh Grant. He kept climbing from there, landing prominent roles in X-Men: First Class, Mad Max: Fury Road and, most recently, Superman.
He’s also drawn acclaim outside the franchise machine, leading Juror #2, The Menu and Nosferatu, which cemented his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most talented up-and-coming stars.
What Harington actually brings to a set
Familiarity with a character isn’t the same as a finished performance, and Harington seems to know the difference. He described feeling his way around Lockhart. That’s a starting point, not a destination.
What he has is a baseline. A voice he’s already found, a rhythm he’s already tested, and eight episodes a season to build something on top of it.
And a Game of Thrones veteran calling a vain, lying celebrity wizard “a wonderful creation” tells you exactly how he plans to play him.
