Gilderoy Lockhart Never Got His Callback In The Harry Potter Movies

The "Harry Potter" franchise has been a staple of the fantasy genre since the late '90s, and it shows little signs of slowing down over two decades later (via CNBC). While the books by J.K. Rowling were already quite popular, after the series was adapted into a long-running film franchise, it achieved massive worldwide success. And this is not to mention the "Fantastic Beasts" series, set about 55 years before the Boy Who Lived was even born.

Part of this popularity is no doubt down to the colorful cast of likable and not-so-likable characters who populate the wizarding world. However, not every character from the "Harry Potter" book series has gotten their due on the silver screen. After all, Rowling had as much time as she needed to give each character their moment in the books, but movies can only be so long, so subplots, side characters, and secondary storylines disappeared without explanation in the cinematic adaptations.

One such example is Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh). The celebrity author takes over as the ill-fated Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" but is quickly shown to be a total phony and a hack who steals most of his ideas from other, better wizards than himself.

As such, he becomes a secondary villain in the sophomore "Harry Potter" entry before getting his just desserts when a spell he casts at Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron (Rupert Grint) using Ron's broken wand backfires, leaving him a hollowed-out husk of a man. While this is the last that viewers see of him in the film franchise, Lockhart returns in the book series.

In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," he is seen wandering around in an amnesiac stupor at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Though his character isn't important to the storyline at that point, the detail does at least wrap up what happens to him after the events of "Chamber of Secrets."