After a year that has felt like nothing but a series of unfortunate events, it seems only right that we get our first look into the delightfully unfortunate new Netflix series, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. While 2004 granted us a cinematic foray into the classic series by Daniel Handler–aka Lemony Snicket–it looks like the story’s journey to the small screen might prove to capture that ineffable magic from the books that didn’t the film didn’t manage to quite connect.

One thing we all can agree on is that Jim Carrey’s performance as Count Olaf in the ’04 film was nothing short of brilliant, so the Netflix series had some serious shoes to fill when casting the villainous lead. From the looks of the trailer, Neil Patrick Harris is more than capable of following the path laid out by Carrey. Everyone knew Harris was a brilliant actor with incredible comedic chops, but seeing him as Count Olaf (and a few of the Count’s “brilliant” disguises) shows us that he is more than capable of bringing the nemesis of the Baudelaire children to life and making him the hilariously wily, conniving, evil old man we love to hate.

Of course, Harris isn’t the only powerhouse actor to join the Unfortunate Events cast. Patrick Warburton is playing Lemony Snicket himself, and the cast is also padded with performances by amazing actors like Joan Cusack, Luke Cage‘s Alfre Woodard, and from Supergirl, young Kara Zor-El herself, Malina Weissman.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a book series that means a lot to so many people, and from the looks of this trailer, the magic we all found from the books may be soon coming to life on Netflix. After all, with a cast full of this much talent and the Netflix powerhouse behind the series, it looks like the latest adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s work will be anything but (wait for it) unfortunate.

What do you think of the trailer? Do you like what you’ve seen of Neil Patrick Harris’ Count Olaf, or do you prefer Jim Carrey’s? Tell us your thoughts on A Series of Unfortunate Events in the comments!

Feature Image: Netflix