Sporting a sinister-looking nose and a ghastly monobrow, Neil Patrick Harris is almost unrecognizable in this new teaser for Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, the upcoming Netflix series that sees him in the role of the dastardly Count Olaf.
Pegged for release early next year, the eight-part series is billed as a new spin on the beloved children’s novels by Lemony Snicket (AKA Daniel Handler), and finds the Baudelaires forced to shack up with Olaf, a distant relative hell-bent on landing the orphans’ inherited fortune. When they’re not evading Olaf’s tricks and schemes, the Baudelaires will be attempting to solve the mystery behind the untimely deaths of their parents, encountering one unfortunate event after the next. Even from this teaser alone, Harris looks to have really taken to the role – and we’re not just talking about those prosthetics – and will hopefully bring something refreshing and new to the table after Jim Carrey’s take more than a decade ago.
Meanwhile, Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes will take point as Violet and Klaus, respectively, with the bite-happy Sunny rounding out the family trio. Together, the Baudelaires come face-to-face with their “evil guardian Count Olaf who will stop at nothing to get his hands on their inheritance. The siblings must outsmart Olaf at every turn, foiling his many devious plans and disguises, in order to discover clues to their parents’ mysterious death.” Joan Cusack also stars as Justice Strauss, with the magnetic Patrick Warburton on board as the show’s charming narrator.
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events debuts via Netflix on January 13, 2017. It’ll run for eight episodes in total.
