James Acaster mocking HBO Harry Potter stars resurfaces as Nicholas Hoult cast
James Acaster (Getty Images)
A clip of James Acaster joking about the increasingly complicated discourse surrounding the upcoming Harry Potter TV series has recently resurfaced after news of Nicholas Hoult’s casting.
In it, he could be seen imagining what it must be like for actors who have already been cast but whose roles have yet to be announced.
In a November 2025 episode of Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster, Acaster riffed about unannounced cast members watching each new casting reveal and worrying about how audiences will react, before jokingly imagining what an actor cast in a huge role such as Voldemort must be thinking.
“’I’m f****** Voldemort! I’m Voldemort! That’s a huge part! A huge part! They’re not letting anyone get away with this! I just wanna get away with it! I hope when we announce my one, and everyone knows I’m in it, I hope that everyone just responds like they did in the old days to Harry Potter and they’ll just think it’s exciting. Is that too much to ask? I thought it’d be exciting,’” Acaster said.
He also joked about the possibility of an actor having to explain their decision to work on the series despite controversy surrounding it.
“‘I’ll say I didn’t know there’s any controversy, or I’ll say that we don’t agree. We don’t agree but I can still work with her,'” he said.
Nicholas Hoult was confirmed to have been cast as Gilderoy Lockhart in season two of HBO’s Harry Potter TV series by Deadline on 11 August, leaving many of his LGBTQ+ fans feeling disappointed.
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