Harry Potter’s Newest Star Was Almost Cast In The Title Role 26 Years Ago
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Published Aug 23, 2026, 5:30 PM EDT
After joining Screen Rant in January 2025, Guy became a Senior Features Writer in March of the same year, and now specializes in features about classic TV shows. With several years' experience writing for and editing TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include a wide range of genres, from comedies, animated series, and crime dramas, to Westerns and political thrillers.
HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series is still adding to the array of stars charged with rebooting the wizarding world for television, and the latest addition to its acting ensemble is more familiar with the franchise than most. 26 years ago, he got pretty close to being chosen for the part of Harry himself.
Back in the year 2000, the Harry Potter franchise was about to appear onscreen for the first time in movie form, and casting directors were scouring Great Britain in search of the Boy Who Lived. One of the young hopefuls who got through to the final stages of auditions to play Harry was already an established TV actor.
Although he didn’t get the part in the end, he’d go on to star alongside Hugh Grant in the 2002 movie About a Boy, before establishing himself as a major name in Hollywood with the Marvel franchise release X-Men: First Class. Nicholas Hoult is now best-known for the moviesMad Max: Fury Road, The Favourite, and The Menu.
Yet, a role that’s about to propel him to new levels of fame brings his career right back to where it began. Hoult has finally joined the cast of Harry Potter, a quarter of a century after he narrowly missed out on playing the franchise’s title character, as well as Harry’s Hogwarts nemesis Draco Malfoy.
Nicholas Hoult Originally Auditioned To Play Harry Potter In The Year 2000
“I think I got to the point where I auditioned with [director Chris Columbus]. He didn’t remember. No, it wasn’t even a memorable audition.
“I remember doing a couple of auditions, and then meeting him and maybe having fake glasses for the audition, not getting the role of Harry, and then maybe coming back and them being like, ‘Will you audition for Malfoy?’
“I don’t think I got that either, and then they would, like, just gradually audition for every role in Harry Potter until they were like, ‘No. None of them. Stop auditioning.’”
Hoult clearly reached an advanced stage in the casting process for the movies if he was asked to audition for Chris Columbus himself. Columbus was the director of the first two installments of the big-screen series, The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets.
Despite the actor’s self-deprecating assessment of the audition, he clearly made an impression, as he was invited to try for other parts. It’s easy to imagine him playing the part of Draco Malfoy, if not Harry Potter himself, particularly since he’s dyed his hair blonde for his latest movie How to Rob a Bank.
Nevertheless, the team who cast Harry Potter for the silver screen couldn’t find a place for Hoult in the end. He’s had to wait a whole generation for his shot at starring in the franchise to come around again.
Hoult’s Casting As Lockhart In The HBO Series Is A Major Full-Circle Moment
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The news that Nicholas Hoult has been cast in Harry Potter season 2 is one of the biggest feel-good stories of the HBO reboot so far. He’ll be portraying dashing Defense against the Dark Arts charlatan Gilderoy Lockhart, who was played by Kenneth Branagh in the movie version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
In Lockhart’s most famous scene, he oversees a wizarding duel between the two characters Hoult previously auditioned for, Harry and Malfoy, in the Hogwarts Great Hall. It’s remarkable to think that the actor will now be playing the teacher in charge of this duel, rather than either of its participants, 25 years on from the Chamber of Secrets movie.
It demonstrates just how far Hoult has come during the intervening period, from his titular role in the 2002 romantic comedy About a Boy, to his career-defining performances as the ape-like mutant Henry "Hank" McCoy in various Marvel releases, and as Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s Superman. He’ll be introduced to Harry Potter as its second season’s star addition.
His critically acclaimed performances in Fury Road, The Favourite, The Menu, and Nosferatu also reflect his range and versatility as an actor across several different genres. However, Gilderoy Lockhart is a part that sees Hoult return to the brash arrogance of Skins antihero Tony Stonem. He’s no longer a teenager, but Harry Potter calls for a similarly brazen performance.
Cast
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Alan Rickman, Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright, Evanna Lynch, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Richard Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Alfred Enoch, Harry Melling, Gary Oldman, Robert Pattinson, Warwick Davis, Oliver Phelps, James Phelps, David Bradley, David Thewlis, Katie Leung, Jason Isaacs, Imelda Staunton, David Tennant, Jamie Campbell Bower, Timothy Spall, Robbie Coltrane, Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Johnny Depp, Mads Mikkelsen
Character(s)
Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid, Dobby the House Elf, Draco Malfoy, Sirius Black, Ginny Weasley, Voldemort
Created by
J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter is a multimedia franchise about an orphaned boy who enrolls at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family, and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world. Adapted from the novels, Harry Potter is an eight-episode film saga that follows the journey of Harry Potter and his friends, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley, as they navigate the tricky world of growing up, school life, and magic. Starting from year one and moving to their seventh year, the films chronicle the students' time at Hogwarts while unfurling a sinister plot that centers around the unsuspecting Harry. With the return of the dark wizard, Voldemort, the students and professors at Hogwarts will fight to carry on as the world around them may change forever. Harry Potter has expanded beyond the world of its films and novels with several video games, a spin-off film series titled Fantastic Beasts, and even attractions at Universal Studios.
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English (US) ·