Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events trailer: First look at Neil Patrick Harris' Count Olaf

The How I Met Your Mother star is near unrecognisable underneath Olaf's sinister-looking nose and monobrow

If you're interested in television series with happy endings, you would be better off watching some other Netflix show.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is headed straight for the small screen, and we've finally been introduced to its spectacularly villainous villain, Count Olaf; as played by none other than Neil Patrick Harris, looking near unrecognisable underneath that sinister-looking nose and monobrow.

Based on the popular series of children's books by Lemony Snicket (AKA Daniel Handler), the series follows the dire misadventures of the trio of Baudelaire orphans - inventor Violet, bookish Klaus, and bitey Sunny; as they find themselves perpetually hounded by the mysterious Olaf, hell-bent on landing the orphans' inherited fortune.

The Baudelaires must use their wits to outsmart Olaf's schemes and duplicitous disguises, as they journey from caretaker to caretaker in an effort to evade an unfortunate end and uncover the mystery of their parents' death.

Harris stars alongside the likes of Patrick Warburton (Lemony Snicket), Joan Cusack (Justice Strauss), Malina Weissman (Violet Baudelaire) and Louis Hynes (Klaus Baudelaire); in an eight-episode series coming straight from executive producers Barry Sonnenfeld and Handler himself.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events debuts 13 January 2017.