Show Notes
Twenty-five years ago, Nicholas Hoult auditioned for both Harry and Draco and lost both roles. Now he's playing Gilderoy Lockhart in Season 2 of HBO's Harry Potter, and David and Becca dig into whether skipping fan-favorite Kit Harington for this pick was inspired or just safe.
The pair compare Kenneth Branagh's farcical Lockhart from the original films to what Hoult might bring, using Deadline's 'villain era' framing to debate whether his age makes this Lockhart a rising con artist rather than an aging fraud. They also dive into book material the films never touched, including the Chapter 6 detention scene and duelling club, and connect showrunners Francesca Gardiner and Jon Brown's Succession background to how dark the memory-theft reveal could get. Fan backlash gets unpacked too, tracing anger at Rowling's producer credit rather than Hoult's casting.
Stick around for the closing debate: with Season 2 filming this fall ahead of Season 1's December premiere, and Dobby still unaccounted for, David and Becca argue over which casting risk is bigger.
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