A Series of Unfortunate Events Reveals New Images; Teases New Trailer


Netflix has made a lot of money by catering to fan interests. The online service is about to debut Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life in less than two weeks, and fans of the near-revived series are ecstatic. Likewise, the company has seen quite a bit of success by adopting shows from other networks, like BBC’s Black Mirror and FOX’s Arrested Development. Netflix knows what fans want, and is unafraid to capitalize on that.

Now, fans are eagerly gearing up for Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which is set to debut early next year. Between teaser trailers and casting news, excitement has only been building since the streaming service announced its plans to adapt the novels back in 2014. With Neil Patrick Harris set to star as Count Olaf and a number of young faces stepping up to play the Baudelaire children, there are so many reasons to be buzzing about the upcoming show — and Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, and NPH himself just gave supporters another.

Earlier today, Handler and Neil Patrick Harris tweeted three new still from the show. The first two, courtesy of Handler, offer first looks at Catherine O’Hara as Dr. Orwell (alongside Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire) and Joan Cusack as Justice Strauss. Harris’s tweet depicts himself as Captain Sham, one of Olaf’s deceptive aliases throughout the series. In his tweet, Handler also indicates that we’ll see a full trailer later this week — implying that the images might be stills from the very same video. Check out the new images, below:


Dr. Orwell made her first appearance in the series’ fourth novel, The Miserable Mill, when she tried to hypnotize Klaus into obedience. Justice Strauss is Count Olaf’s kindly next-door neighbor, who helps the Baudelaire children out during their stay with the evil Count. Olaf becomes Captain Sham in order to entice the Baudelaires’ Aunt Josephine, so that she might transfer the children back into his care. Fans of the Unfortunate Events movie adaptation will undoubtedly notice the humorous connection between these images: Catherine O’Hara plays Dr. Orwell in the series, though she was the original Justice Strauss in the film.

It’s awesome to see seasoned comedic actresses O’Hara (Home Alone) and Cusack (School of Rock, Shameless) in their element — that image of Cusack as Strauss especially signals some hilarious moments, if the martini and the law book are any indication. Many fans were excited to learn that Neil Patrick Harris would play Count Olaf, as he made his name as a character actor in roles like Dr. Horrible (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) and Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother).

There’s not much else to say, except that we are beyond psyched to see this trailer. It’s sure to be filled with the same dark humor and zany mix-ups that characterized the source material, and it’ll help hold us over until the series finally debuts next year. Well, for a little while, at least.

A Series of Unfortunate Events debuts on Netflix on January 13, 2017.