Nicholas Hoult will no longer star as Gilderoy Lockhart in the Harry Potter series, with Kit Harington set to replace him in the role.
The news of Hoult’s casting in the second season of HBO’s Harry Potter adaptation prompted an outcry from his fans earlier this month.
Hoult was set to play the conniving but charming Professor Lockhart in the upcoming season, but many fans were dismayed by the actor’s decision given author JK Rowling’s repeated social media attacks on the transgender community.
As a result, any of the Skins star’s biggest fans, including those with accounts dedicated to charting his successes, announced they would no longer be supporting him.
It has now been reported that Hoult will be exiting the wizarding world due to ‘scheduling conflicts’.
Instead, the Game of Thrones star has been named as his replacement to play the eccentric wizard, Variety reports.
The 39-year-old recently voiced the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for Audible’s star-studded audiobook series of the books, taking on the role from Kenneth Branagh, who immortalised him in the films.
A self-professed Harry Potter fanatic, Harington has said he fell in love with Rowling’s books as a child and has re-read them several times since.
He previously told Variety that taking on the role of Lockhart for the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets audiobook was an easy decision.
‘It was a really simple yes, because I love the character,’ he said. ‘As far as cameos in a series go, you don’t get much more entertaining and fun to do as an actor than Gilderoy Lockhart. It was a no-brainer.’
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Filming for the second season of Harry Potter is expected to start this autumn, while the first season will be released on HBO and HBO Max on Christmas Day.
But the criticism around the show doesn’t show any sign of slowing down, with several of the actors involved facing questions about their stance on trans rights as a result.
Most recently, Bel Powley, who will play Aunt Petunia, faced criticism for sharing her support for trans people but maintaining that she ‘loves Harry Potter’.
The actress told the Telegraph that she ‘strongly disagrees with Rowling’s views on gender’.
