In 2004, when the first Lemony Snicket book A Series Of Unfortunate Events was adapted into a film, it was Jim Carrey who took on the role of the scheming, panto-style villain Count Olaf. For the Netflix TV version, Neil Patrick Harris seems ready to inherit the part.
Netflix has been developing a series based on the books (actually written by author Daniel Handler) since at least 2014, but progress since then has been somewhat slow. It isn't helped by the fact that the man who had been hired to run the show, Mark Hudis, has left with no replacement filling his chair just yet. Barry Sonnenfeld, who came aboard the developing show last year, is still involved as a producer and potential director.
The show would, much like the film, before it, follow the misadventures of orphans Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, who fall into the manipulative clutches of Count Olaf, a man who claims to care for them, but is really just after their inheritance. Netflix has ordered a first season for the series, but has yet to set a date for it to launch – handy, as most of the cast isn't assembled and Harris will be busy for a while this year working on Alexander Payne's latest, Downsizing alongside Matt Damon and Reese Witherspoon.