Despite ending back in 2011, the Harry Potter movies continue to be a popular part of pop culture. Folk regularly re-watch the films with a HBO Max subscription, and we'll soon be treated to another book to screen adaptation thanks to the forthcoming TV series. The cast has been coming together, and we just learned that Nicholas Hoult will be playing Gilderoy Lockhart in Season 2. And fans are absolutely thrilled about this bit of casting news.

What we know about the Harry Potter TV show is limited, but Season 1 will arrive in December and the second season is clearly already in development. The second season will adapt The Chamber of Secrets, and Hoult will bring the slimy Gilderoy Lockhart to life. Folks sounded off in the comment section of ET's Instagram post about the casting, and you can see some of their responses below:

• Nicholas as Gilderoy Lockhart? Brilliant. He gets to keep the blonde look, smile like he invented magic, and let the ego do the rest. ✨😂
• He’s gonna be so lovely 😍😂 he was great as Peter and it’s basically the same energy 😂
• I for one am excited about this series and think he is a great choice from casting. I hope each episode will be an hour long. I love the movies but so much of the books had to be cut out. A series allows for them to go deeper and incorporate more of the books.
• Perfect casting. He’s going to kill it!
• OMG THIS IS GONNA BE FUNNY WHEN HE LOSES HIS MEMORY AND GOES INSANE 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Talk about a resounding response. While the pressure is on for the young Harry Potter TV show stars to live up to the iconic performance of their predecessors, the Superman star seems to have already won the passionate fanbase over. But considering Nicholas Hoult's iconic performances in projects like The Menu, the X-Men movies, and Nosferatu, perhaps this shouldn't be much of a surprise.

While Hoult is being welcomed with open arms by Harry Potter fans, he will still have some big shoes to fill when portraying Lockhart. In the second film he was played by the one and only Kenneth Branagh, to delightful results. We'll just have to see how the Warm Bodies actor puts his own spin on this iconic character.

Hoult is only the latest familiar face that will be playing an adult in the Harry Potter TV series. John Lithgow will play Dumbledore, Janet McTeer will be McGonagall and Warwick Davis will reprise his role as Flitwick. We'll just have to wait and see what other actors join the fun as the show gets deeper into Harry's time at Hogwarts.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone will debut on December 25th as part of the 2026 TV schedule, and the movies are currently streaming in their entirety over on HBO Max. Fingers crossed we get more footage of the first season sooner rather than later.

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.