Neil Patrick Harris for A Series of Unfortunate Events
By Ben Kelly
Neil Patrick Harris is set to star in the Netflix adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
The actor, known for his roles in How I Met Your Mother and Gone Girl, as well as a string of Broadway musicals, will take the part of Count Olaf; a role which was originally portrayed by Jim Carey in a 2004 film adaptation (below). Plans at the time for that project to expand into a Harry Potter style series eventually fell through.
Netflix picked up the books in 2014, ordering 13 episodes, which are due to air later this year.
Patrick Harris – who hosted last year’s Academy Awards, and recently steered a failed American version of Saturday Night Takeaway – has landed the lead role, of a villainous count who becomes the protector of the three Baudelaire orphans, and tries to steal their inheritance.
Netflix will no doubt be hoping for success with their initial adaptation, as there’s plenty of material to keep such a franchise filming.
There are 13 books in A Series of Unfortunate Events, which have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide since first published in 1999.