Nicholas Hoult is joining HBO’s Harry Potter series for its second season, taking on the role of Gilderoy Lockhart, one of the key characters from the book it’s based on.

The books describe Lockhart as a “notoriously vain, boastful and fame-obsessed wizard,” well-versed in Memory Charms, who’s brought in by Dumbledore as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Kenneth Branagh played the role memorably in the original films, and given Hoult’s recent, gloriously eccentric turn as Lex Luthor in Superman, he feels like a genuinely strong fit to follow that up.

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Season two was greenlit back in May and is set to begin filming later this year, following Season 1’s Christmas premiere. It airs on HBO and streams exclusively on HBO Max. The core cast includes Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, and Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, alongside Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall.

Season one was written and executive produced by showrunner Francesca Gardiner, with Mark Mylod also executive producing and directing several episodes. Rowling, Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films round out the executive producer roster on the series, which HBO produces in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. Jon Brown, a writer on the first season, has since been promoted to co-showrunner alongside Gardiner for season two.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone premieres this Christmas.

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