Netflix Finds Olaf: Neil Patrick Harris Joins 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'

It's been more than a decade since the first attempt to adapt Daniel Handler's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and now Netflix is stepping forward to bring Lemony Snicket back to life. In the mini-series' first casting announcement, Netflix has hired How I Met Your Mother actor Neil Patrick Harris to play evil Count Olaf, played by Jim Carrey in the 2004 film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor who played Barney Stinson was recently confirmed in the role of the evil character, who follows the Baudelaire orphans everywhere in desperate attempts to take their inherited fortune through all 13 books.

In keeping with the role, Harris confirmed the casting news on Twitter this Saturday, saying he wasn't that excited because of "those three horrible child actors," a pun on both Unfortunate Events' tone and his own past as a child actor.

I'm excitedish to portray Count Olaf - its spending all day with those three horrible child actors that will be a challenge. #sneer #shudder

— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) January 16, 2016

This will be Harris' first major television role since HIMYM ended in the spring of 2014. Ever since, he's hosted the Academy Awards and ran a short-lived variety series, Best Time Ever, on NBC.

Besides Harris' casting, there's more news from the Snicket front: the series' showrunner, Mark Hudis, has stepped down from the project, and there's no replacement as of yet.

Netflix has kept fairly tight-lipped about it all since the announcement. Harris is, so far, the only confirmed member of the cast, and little is known about the production as of yet. Last December, a casting call was launched for the two older Baudelaire children, Violet and Klaus. It was also revealed at that point that shooting for the series would begin next March in Vancouver.

A few months back, a supposed teaser came out that turned out to be fan-made, according to Netflix. Still, in keeping with the book series' mysterious tone, CNET argued at the time that the trailer could in fact be real and being covered up by the site.