Nicholas Hoult was in the new Harry Potter series. Now he’s not, with the cover story being scheduling issues. Kit Harington has no such issues. Whereas once, it was something special to be cast in a Harry Potter production, in 2026 there are actors who have to wrestle with the pay cheque on the one ... Harry Potter | Nicholas Hoult exits, less than 48 hours after he’s announced
Nicholas Hoult was in the new Harry Potter series. Now he’s not, with the cover story being scheduling issues. Kit Harington has no such issues.
Whereas once, it was something special to be cast in a Harry Potter production, in 2026 there are actors who have to wrestle with the pay cheque on the one hand, and what now comes with the role on the other.
You don’t need me to tell you that Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling has become a force, and not for good, in the lives of trans people around the globe. That someone who created a fictional world for those who didn’t feel like they fitted in has dedicated her voice and resources to what’s turned into a sizeable anti-trans movement.
I was in Leicester Square in London at the premiere of the last Harry Potter film, where thousands of people chanted J K Rowling’s name, in huge appreciation of what she’d created and the world she’d given people. I looked around that night at the wide range of people she’d brought together. People dressing up as characters from the series, to my eyes nobody caring who was wearing what, people feeling they could be who they were.
Such a mixture of people is not possible again in the Harry Potter universe. It’s tragic.
As such, whenever a creative signs up for a Harry Potter project, be it audiobook or Max’s new television series, they must be prepared for the question as to where they stand on J K Rowling’s views. It’s unavoidable.
As Nicholas Hoult found out over the weekend.
He’d been cast in the second series of the aforementioned Harry Potter television as Gilderoy Lockhart, a character played by Kenneth Branagh in the second film.
His casting announcement was a surprise, with Hoult an actor attracting a diverse fanbase. You didn’t have to go far online to see expressions of disappointment from fans in the aftermath of his casting. Now, within 48 hours or so, he’s dropped out of the series.
This announcement, in the Hollywood trades at least, is being played relatively straight. That there was a scheduling issue around two projects Hoult is also involved with, and even though he was free to film the Potter show before the weekend, now he’s not.
There was enough time in the midst of all of this to get in touch with Kit Harington and offer him the role as well. He’s already played the character in the audiobook adaptations of the books, and has wasted no time signing on the dotted line.
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In the next few months, there’s the press tour and actual release of the first season of the Harry Potter show. No matter how many straight down the line casting announcements are made, the questions are just going to keep on coming.
Harry Potter & The Poisoned Chalice debuts on HBO Max this Christmas.
