Following the mild reception to the film adaptation to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, it's understandable that no one has attempted to bring the popular series of children's books to the small or big screen since. Jim Carrey imbued the character of Olaf with menace and physical eccentricity but beyond that and some near production design, the movie was, and remains, a fantastic bore. But like so many other things, this failure didn't scare Netflix off from the property.

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Image via Netflix

The streaming service will premiere a series based on the first book in early 2017 - January 13th is the official release date, natch - and today they released the first teaser trailer for the program. Patrick Warburton plays the titular author of the story in the series and his delivery is perfect for the wild line of adjectives and descriptors he uses as he warns viewers of what's to come in the teaser. It's enough to keep one attentive for the teaser, with the voice of Neil Patrick Harris' Olaf heard for only a brief moment, and it's a clever way to preempt what will likely be the next trailer with more footage of the actual series, as well as Harris' nefarious villain. We'll have to see how this all looks but for now, I'm tentatively fascinated by this series.

Here's the official trailer for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events:

Here's the official synopsis for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events:

Based on the internationally best-selling series of books by Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) and starring Emmy and Tony Award winner Neil Patrick Harris, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events recounts the tragic tale of the Baudelaire orphans -- Violet, Klaus, and Sunny – whose evil guardian Count Olaf will stop at nothing to get his hands on their inheritance. The siblings must outsmart Olaf at every turn, foiling his many devious plans and disguises, in order to discover clues to their parents’ mysterious death. The eight-episode series is a Netflix original production, executive produced by Emmy Award winner Barry Sonnenfeld and Daniel Handler, and also stars Patrick Warburton (Lemony Snicket), Joan Cusack (Justice Strauss), Malina Weissman (Violet Baudelaire) and Louis Hynes (Klaus Baudelaire). The series premieres January 13, 2017 only on Netflix.

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Image via Netflix