Kit Harington replaces Nicholas Hoult as Gilderoy Lockhart in ‘Harry Potter’ series
Kit Harington attends the 2026 Disney Upfront at Jacob Javits Center on May 12, 2026, in New York City. (John Nacion/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
Kit Harington is headed to Hogwarts.
The actor is set to play Gilderoy Lockhart in season 2 of HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series, ABC Audio has confirmed.
Harington replaces Nicholas Hoult in the role. Hoult was previously announced to star as the character on Aug. 12. He now leaves the part over scheduling issues. HBO had to work around two of Hoult’s preexisting projects, and when it was no longer feasible, the actor was let out of his deal.
This means Harington takes over the role he previously voiced in Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions, which released in late 2025.
The first season of the series, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, debuts on HBO and HBO Max on Dec. 25. Its season 2 renewal was announced on May 6.
Gilderoy Lockhart was previously played by Kenneth Branagh in the 2002 film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The character is a famous, vain wizard known for his heroic acts that he has described in books written about himself. He takes over as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
Dominic McLaughlin leads the cast of the upcoming show as Harry Potter. He stars alongside Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton, who play Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The series is described as a faithful adaptation of the books by J.K. Rowling, who serves as an executive producer.
Succession‘s Jon Brown, who was a writer on season 1, has been promoted to co-showrunner for season 2. He will serve in the role alongside Francesca Gardiner, the showrunner of season 1.
Harington replacing Hoult isn’t the first casting news about season 2. On May 18, ABC Audio confirmed that Gracie Cochrane, the actress who portrays Ginny Weasley in season 1, will not return to play the character in season 2 of the series.
Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli in ‘Off Campus.’ (Liane Hentscher/Prime)
The Off Campus team is calling out fans’ unsportsmanlike behavior.
Prime Video’s popular college hockey romance series posted a message to social media Thursday imploring fans to be kind.
“The Off Campus community is built on a shared love of storytelling – and on respect for the real people who bring it to life,” read the message. “We ask that everyone in this space extend that respect to our cast and the people in their lives.”
It added, “Accounts that engage in targeted harassment will be removed from following our accounts.”
Prime Video had to issue similar notices for The Summer I Turned Pretty after some comments turned toxic. “PSA for the Summer community,” the show’s official social accounts shared last year before the third and final season aired. “Cousins is our safe place. Everything good, everything magical. Let’s keep the conversation kind this summer.”
More recently, the streaming service issued a plea to fans to stop sharing locations and visiting the set for the upcoming The Summer I Turned Pretty movie.
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Blake Lively attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 4, 2026, in New York. Justin Baldoni speaks onstage at the Vital Voices 12th Annual Voices of Solidarity Award, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
A New York federal judge has ruled that Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, must pay his former It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively’s attorneys’ fees, after the parties reached a settlement last month in Lively’s lawsuit against the actor and production studio.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman denied Lively’s claim for punitive damages but wrote that the actress was entitled to attorneys’ fees under California Civil Code Section 47.1.
Section 47.1 states in part that a “prevailing defendant” in a defamation case is “entitled to their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for successfully defending themselves in the litigation,” as well as any additional damages permitted by a judge.
In a statement to ABC News following the ruling, Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb said the judge’s decision “makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant under Section 47.1.”
“Ms. Lively is gratified that her lawsuit shows how Section 47.1 and laws like it create a path for survivors to hold accountable those who weaponize online attacks and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors,” they added.
ABC News has reached out to representatives for Baldoni for comment.
Friday’s decision comes after the parties reached a settlement in early May in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, ending their nearly year-and-a-half legal dispute.
According to settlement documents filed May 7 in the Southern District of New York, Baldoni, via his Wayfarer production company, and Lively agreed to settle their ongoing dispute on terms that Lively could still seek to recover attorney’s fees and additional damages.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle kicked off in December 2024, when Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging “severe emotional distress” after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film — which Baldoni also directed — sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni followed up the action by filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy on Dec. 31 after it published the article about Lively’s California complaint.
Lively subsequently formalized her complaint into a lawsuit against Baldoni in New York, also on Dec. 31.
Baldoni responded by filing a civil lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and others for, among other things, extortion and defamation.
The suits were consolidated into one lawsuit in January 2025.
In June last year, Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as Baldoni’s defamation suit against the Times, was dismissed by Liman.
A federal judge in New York gutted much of Lively’s case against Baldoni in April of this year, including claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
The judge determined in a ruling at the time that Lively would be allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation.
In May, after reaching a settlement in their protracted legal dispute, the two actors issued a joint statement via their respective legal teams, saying, “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
