Kit Harington Is the New Lockhart

DavidOkay, so remember Tuesday when we sat here and very confidently graded Nicholas Hoult's Lockhart?

Becca HartwellAgainst Branagh, point by point. We had a rubric, David.

DavidWe had a whole rubric, and it is, as of this recording, completely worthless.

Becca HartwellVoid. Null and void.

DavidThe scorecard is dead. Long live the scorecard.

Becca HartwellI'm Becca Hartwell. That's David. This is The Sorting Room, and we are apparently doing corrections now.

DavidHow long, Becca? Give me the actual number because I refuse to believe this timeline.

Becca HartwellFour days. Just over four days between us publishing that grade and HBO blowing it up.

DavidFour days. We didn't even get a full week out of that take.

Becca HartwellWorse than the milk in my fridge.

DavidDon't start.

Becca HartwellSo here's the plan. We regrade it live on air right now using the actual new information.

DavidAnd it's getting weirder because this isn't some cold blind casting swap. Wait, what do you mean?

Becca HartwellI mean, there's a version of this actor already playing Lockhart that most people have never heard.

DavidWait, hold on. That's a real thing that exists?

Becca HartwellIt's real. It's on the record, and it changes how we should be grading this whole thing.

DavidOkay, forget the rubric for one second.

Becca HartwellLet's just tell people who's actually playing the guy now.

DavidOkay. TVLine confirmed the actual casting, Becca, in black and white this morning.

Becca HartwellKit Harington, Lockhart. I've read it four times, and it still sounds made up.

DavidIt's real. Hoult's out, Harington's in, and he's playing Gilderoy Lockhart in season two.

Becca HartwellWait, so is this a rumor site running with a leak, or is HBO actually saying it?

DavidNo, no. TVLine confirmed it directly, and Deadline's own report landed within the hour with the same name.

Becca HartwellTwo separate outlets, same casting. That's not a leak. That's a press day.

DavidDeadline even framed it as him reprising something which... Hold that thought. We're getting there.

Becca HartwellYou're doing the thing where you tease your own segment.

DavidGuilty, but here's what's wild. Before either outlet even had bylines up, one fan posted the exact same casting on X word for word like they had a source inside the building.

Becca HartwellThat happens more than people think. Assistants talk. Group chats leak. Somebody's cousin works in casting.

DavidSure, but the timing on this one was suspiciously tight.

Becca HartwellOkay, so we've got the who. Now, why is Hoult actually gone? Because scheduling conflicts is doing a lot of quiet work in that sentence.

DavidScreenRant went and actually dug into it instead of just repeating the press line.

Becca HartwellAnd?

DavidHBO tried to build the shoot around two other Hoult projects he's already committed to.

Becca HartwellTwo, not one?

DavidTwo. Couldn't make the calendar work, so they released him from his contract outright.

Becca HartwellThat's not a firing. That's a scheduling collision nobody won.

DavidRight. And ScreenRant was careful to say there's chatter online tying this to the Rowling controversy stuff, but that part is unconfirmed. They didn't run with it.

Becca HartwellGood, because a scheduling conflict is a boring and believable story. A controversy exit is a much juicier story that nobody's actually proven.

DavidWhich is exactly why the boring version is probably the true one.

Becca HartwellTruth is so disappointing sometimes.

DavidIsn't it, though?

Becca HartwellBut David, think about what HBO just did in practice. They evaluated two competing shooting calendars, decided the actor wasn't worth the puzzle, and let him go.

DavidOn a flagship show for a role Hoult had already been cast in publicly.

Becca HartwellThat's a studio choosing its own production schedule over a name that big. That's not nothing.

DavidIt's really not, and now we're sitting here with an entirely different actor and a rubric we built for somebody else.

Becca HartwellCan we sit with the reprising word for one more second? Because most trades don't tip their hand like that on a casting story.

DavidRight. Reprising implies there's history, not just a fresh signing.

Becca HartwellExactly. And neither outlet spelled out what that history was in the initial post. They just planted the flag.

DavidWhich is its own kind of tease. TVLine confirms the swap. Deadline confirms the swap and drops a breadcrumb, and neither one closes the loop.

Becca HartwellSo the reporting itself did what we're doing right now, raised the question and made us wait for the answer.

DavidThat's either good journalism or great marketing, and honestly, I can't tell anymore.

Becca HartwellSo what do we even do with the scorecard at this point?

DavidWe regrade it, actually regrade it right now with the guy who's actually going to be standing in that classroom.

Becca HartwellFine by me. Let's see if Harington earns the categories we already wrote or if we have to start from zero.

DavidOkay, so before we regrade anything, let's actually think about what our scorecard even measured. We graded voice, presence, that oily charm Branagh nailed in the movie.

Becca HartwellRight. And however we broke that down last time, the point was it's about the chair, not the person sitting in it. Doesn't matter who's sitting in the chair, the chair's still there.

DavidExactly. We built a rubric for a role, not for Nicholas Hoult specifically. So the rubric survives even when the actor evaporates.

Becca HartwellWhich is honestly the only reason this isn't a total do-over.

DavidAnd on the why did he really leave thing, we already covered that ScreenRant flagged the Rowling backlash theory but said it's unconfirmed, so scheduling stays the official story.

Becca HartwellRight. No need to relitigate it. Scheduling officially until somebody says otherwise.

DavidWhich means the only question that actually matters today is whether Harington moves the needle at all on our grade.

Becca HartwellRight. Does the chair get a better tenant or a worse one?

DavidSo let's actually walk through it instead of just asserting it. Take the charm piece, the stuff we praised Branagh for and dinged Hoult on a little bit. Does Harington even have that in his toolkit?

Becca HartwellHonestly, not from what we've seen him do before. He spent most of his career being broody and self-serious, not oily and self-satisfied.

DavidRight. But that's exactly why I wanna slow down here instead of just assuming the vibe carries over. Broody and vain aren't opposites. They're just different flavors of a guy who takes himself very seriously.

Becca HartwellFair. And then there's the piece about how the character has to land as funny without being a cartoon. That's harder to predict from a resume at all.

DavidWhich is the honest answer, right? We don't actually know yet. We're not grading a performance, we're grading a possibility.

Becca HartwellThat's the whole problem with regrading this early. We're not scoring Harington, we're scoring our own guess about Harington.

DavidFair, but it's still worth doing because at least now we've got a real name attached to the guess instead of an empty chair.

Becca HartwellOkay, but let's push on the comic timing piece a little harder 'cause that's the one I keep coming back to.

DavidRight. The character never winks at the camera. He fully believes he's charming.

Becca HartwellExactly. And that's a specific skill, playing total sincerity while everyone around you can see through it. It's not the same muscle as being broody and mysterious.

DavidNo, but it's not the opposite muscle either. Sincerity is sincerity whether you're selling danger or selling vanity. The direction just flips.

Becca HartwellAnd normally I'd say we're grading blind. We've got a name and a press release and nothing else to go on.

DavidNormally, yeah.

Becca HartwellBut this isn't normal.

DavidWait, what do you mean this isn't normal?

Becca HartwellBecause, David, this isn't Harington's first time anywhere near Lockhart.

DavidHold on. Hold on.

Becca HartwellYou're telling me there's tape?

DavidThere's tape. So he's not walking in cold, Becca. Kit Harington already played this guy out loud for money on the record.

Becca HartwellWait, what?

DavidDeadline's own report on the recast says he's reprising a voice role. He voiced Gilderoy Lockhart for Audible's full cast edition of Chamber of Secrets released at the end of last year.

Becca HartwellThe audiobooks? The full cast ones with the giant ensemble?

DavidThat's the one. And Variety sat down with him back in December when it came out.

Becca HartwellWhat did he say?

DavidHe told them saying yes to Lockhart was a really simple yes. No hesitation.

Becca HartwellOf course it was. Who turns down getting to be that insufferable on purpose?

DavidRight. And he had a whole take on the guy already. He called Lockhart lovely little entertaining, tragic comical.

Becca HartwellTragic comical. That's-- Actually, that's a pretty good three words for Lockhart.

DavidIt's better than our whole scorecard from two episodes ago, honestly.

Becca HartwellDon't remind me.

DavidToo soon?

Becca HartwellA little.

DavidBut here's the part that actually matters for the show. His live-action version isn't just going to be an audiobook read out loud on camera.

Becca HartwellHow do we know that?

DavidCollider got him fresh off the casting news, and he called the whole thing a real dream.

Becca HartwellA real dream. Big statement for a guy replacing someone mid-scandal or mid-scheduling conflict, whatever we're calling it now.

DavidWe already litigated that one.

Becca HartwellFine, fine. Keep going.

DavidHe also told them straight up that his on-screen Lockhart is going to be different from what he did in the booth.

Becca HartwellDifferent how, though? Did they say?

DavidNot specifics, just that it won't be a copy-paste.

Becca HartwellWhich honestly, that tracks. A booth performance and a camera performance are two different jobs. You've got no face on the audiobook.

DavidExactly. It's all voice, all timing, no vanity wall of photos of himself to play with.

Becca HartwellRight. And Lockhart is basically a vanity wall with legs.

DavidThat's-- Yeah, that's the whole character.

Becca HartwellSo he understood the assignment twice in two different mediums.

DavidAnd get this, he's not even the only one doing that.

Becca HartwellWait, who else?

DavidCollider's piece also confirms Arabella Stanton is the only other person from that audiobook cast making the jump to on-screen.

Becca HartwellStanton being?

DavidShe's in that same full cast ensemble. So out of that whole audiobook cast, it's two people crossing over into the actual show.

Becca HartwellThat's a pretty small club.

DavidTiny. Which tells you something. This wasn't some emergency phone-a-friend situation. Harington had a real documented on-record relationship with this character before HBO ever needed a replacement.

Becca HartwellSo when people say he's just the guy who happened to be free?

DavidHe's not just available, he's rehearsed.

Becca HartwellOkay, I'll give you that one. That's a stronger case than I expected walking into this.

DavidRight? He's not a blind pick.

Becca HartwellNo, but the Internet doesn't seem to care about audiobook credentials right now.

DavidOh, they've got opinions.

Becca HartwellThey've got a lot of opinions, and none of them are about Chamber of Secrets narration.

DavidOkay, so the recast news is barely a day old, and Kit Harington is getting dragged into stuff that has nothing to do with him.

Becca HartwellThe Tab piece is doing something interesting. It's framing his first comments on taking the role happening inside the backlash the whole show's been under because of Rowling's stance on trans rights.

DavidRight. And that's not new to him specifically.

Becca HartwellNo. The Tab notes how Hoult caught the same criticism when he was cast before any of the scheduling stuff even came up.

DavidSo Harington steps into a role and inherits a controversy that was already sitting there waiting for him.

Becca HartwellExactly. It's less backlash to Kit and more backlash to the whole project that just found a new face to attach to.

DavidWhich, fair. I get why fans conflate the two.

Becca HartwellSure, but it's worth separating. The scheduling exit is one story. The Rowling backlash is a different one ongoing.

DavidUnderstood. Now, here's the part that made me laugh out loud this morning.

Becca HartwellOh, no.

DavidThere's a whole roundup, Yahoo collected it, of fans arguing Harington got miscast.

Becca HartwellMiscast as what?

DavidSirius Black or Remus Lupin.

Becca HartwellOf course

DavidFans are out there going, "This man has the cheekbones for a tragic werewolf. Why is he playing a peacock in teal robes?"

Becca HartwellI mean, Jon Snow energy doesn't scream Lockhart. I'll give them that.

DavidIt doesn't, and that's the actual debate I wanna have with you because I don't think it's crazy.

Becca HartwellGo on.

DavidLockhart is vain. He's a fraud. He's constantly performing confidence he doesn't have. That's not brooding.

Becca HartwellThat's a guy in love with the sound of his own voice.

DavidRight. And Harington's screen work has mostly been the opposite: quiet, wounded, guy who carries a sword and doesn't smile.

Becca HartwellSo on paper, you'd think Sirius, but think about how Lockhart actually plays. He's not funny because he's a clown. He's funny because he believes his own hype completely with total sincerity.

DavidThat's a straight man skill.

Becca HartwellIt is. Comic delusion works better on a guy who can sell sincerity, and Harington has spent years selling grim sincerity. Just point it sideways.

DavidHuh. So the case isn't wrong fit, it's same skill, different costume.

Becca HartwellThat's my read. The fans wanting Sirius are voting for the version of Kit they already know.

DavidWhereas this is betting he can do a version they haven't seen.

Becca HartwellWhich, again, we already know he's tried in the audiobook.

DavidDifferent medium, different stakes, but yeah, not his first swing at the guy.

Becca HartwellSo I don't think the backlash sticks to the casting logic itself.

DavidIt sticks to the studio, the timing, the politics around the show, not to whether Kit Harington can do vain and ridiculous.

Becca HartwellRight. That's a separate argument entirely.

DavidAnd all of that, the speed, the Rowling noise still following the production, the second scramble this fast-

Becca HartwellStarts to raise a bigger question than just this one actor.

DavidYeah. What does it actually say about how HBO's running this whole thing? Okay, so scheduling conflict. That's the official reason for Hoult's leaving, and we already said it's not some smoking gun on its own.

Becca HartwellActors juggle overlapping shoots all the time. It happens.

DavidRight, but here's what I keep chewing on. This is the second time in a matter of weeks HBO has had to move fast on this specific production.

Becca HartwellSecond time meaning what exactly?

DavidMeaning the calendar for this show is apparently tight enough that one actor's other commitments blew a hole in it, and they had to patch it practically overnight.

Becca HartwellOr it means they're being decisive instead of sitting on a problem for six months.

DavidSure, but decisive and reactive can look identical from the outside.

Becca HartwellDavid, every long-running production hits a scheduling snag. Game of Thrones lost directors mid-season. Loki had to shuffle around Owen Wilson's other gigs. This isn't unique to Harry Potter.

DavidI'm not saying it's unique. I'm saying it's data about this specific production, and the data point is their bench isn't deep enough to absorb one actor's calendar without a public scramble.

Becca HartwellOr their bench is exactly deep enough because look how fast they landed on Harington.

DavidOkay, fair. That part was smooth.

Becca HartwellGenuinely smooth. They didn't leak six names and dither. They went, made the call, announced it.

DavidBut smooth execution of a fix doesn't tell you the underlying planning was tight. It tells you their crisis response is good.

Becca HartwellThose aren't separate things on a production this size.

DavidThey kind of are, though. A well-run kitchen doesn't catch fire and then impress you by putting it out fast.

Becca HartwellOkay, that's a little dramatic for a scheduling swap.

DavidMaybe, but we're two recasts deep before this show has shot a full Season Two. That's a real number, not a vibe.

Becca HartwellOne case, though. One actor, one calendar collision. You can't build a pipeline verdict out of a sample size of one.

DavidI'm not building a verdict. I'm asking the question out loud, which is allowed.

Becca HartwellAsk it then.

DavidDoes a franchise this valuable have any business running actor availability that close to the wire?

Becca HartwellProbably not ideal, no.

DavidRight? So even if this one instance is just Hollywood being Hollywood, actors double-booking themselves like always, it's still worth flagging because the stakes here are enormous. This isn't a mid-budget streaming drama. Nobody notices if it wobbles.

Becca HartwellEvery hiccup gets magnified because it's Harry Potter.

DavidExactly, and magnification changes the calculus. HBO can't afford to look like they're improvising this thing season to season.

Becca HartwellWhich is maybe the actual lesson here. Not that the pipeline is broken, but that the margin for error on a show this scrutinized is basically zero.

DavidOne scheduling collision, and it's a headline. Imagine a second one next year.

Becca HartwellI'd rather not.

DavidFair enough.

Becca HartwellSo where does that leave us? Cautiously fine or actually worried?

DavidHonestly, cautiously fine, leaning curious. I wanna see how Season 2 actually comes together before I call this a pattern.

Becca HartwellSame, but I'm watching the call sheet a lot closer than I was a week ago.

DavidAll right. We've thrown enough at the wall for one episode. Becca, let's leave people with something to actually think about instead of just recapping ourselves.

Becca HartwellAgreed. Let's send them off with the good stuff. Okay, prediction time. My gut says Harington plays the Audible's delusion but strips out the warmth. On screen, you can't hide behind a narrator's voice, so the vanity has to read on his face in real time.

DavidSo less lovable idiot, more guy who genuinely believes his own press.

Becca HartwellExactly. The Audible take got to be silly in a vacuum. The show has to sell that silliness next to actual danger, actual monsters.

DavidHigher degree of difficulty.

Becca HartwellMuch higher.

DavidAll right, you're homework listeners. Send us set photos, casting rumors, book details, whatever you got at TheSortingRoom on X. We will absolutely use it.

Becca HartwellWe need the help at this point.

DavidWe do. Two recasts in one summer will do that to a production team.

Becca HartwellWhich brings us to the actual question we're leaving on.

DavidGo on.

Becca HartwellIf there's a third one, and I'm not saying there will be, does anybody still trust the process, or is every announcement just a placeholder until the next headline?

DavidThat's the one I don't have an answer for.

Becca HartwellMe neither. Ask us in a week.

DavidHonestly, might have to.

Becca HartwellThanks for hanging with us through two casting news cycles in one episode.

DavidGo easy on Kit Harington, everybody. The man just said yes to a job.

Becca HartwellSee you next week.