X-Men actor Nicholas Hoult has been cast in the second season of the upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
The 36-year-old English star will play Hogwarts professor Gilderoy Lockhart in the HBO adaptation of the children’s fantasy novels by JK Rowling.
An HBO Max post on Instagram announcing the news read: “Magical me indeed. Now, how many autographs would you like? Nicholas Hoult has been cast as Gilderoy Lockhart in season two of the new HBO original Harry Potter series.”
It comes after it was announced that the role of Ginny Weasley would be recast for the show’s second series due to “unforeseen circumstances”, with actress Gracie Cochrane leaving the series.
The show aims to be a faithful adaptation of Rowling’s novels, while providing a wider insight into the magical wizarding world beyond that depicted in the hit film franchise, which ran from 2001 to 2011.
It sees the three main characters, young wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, played by Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton.
The cast includes Paapa Essiedu as Professor Severus Snape and US actor John Lithgow as the wise and powerful headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Albus Dumbledore.
The announcement comes after Bel Powley, who plays Petunia Dursley in the series, said she “strongly disagrees” with Rowling’s views on gender.
In an interview with the Telegraph, she said: “I strongly disagree with JK Rowling’s views on gender.
“I think that the trans community deserve safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance.”
Rowling has denied being transphobic and previously said she respects “every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them”.
The author has previously said she believes biological sex is immutable and has been critical of self-declared gender identity, calling it “quasi-religious” and “anti-science”.
The first season of the HBO show will launch this Christmas, and has been adapted from Rowling’s first novel, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone.
