In visual media, viewers often like to compare how different actors portray an identical character and whose performance was more effective. Fans of the Batman films often discuss all of the depictions of the Caped Crusader on screen and his arch-nemesis, the Joker.

Come Friday, we’ll have the chance to discuss a similar topic about a lesser-known villain who hasn’t been put on screen in nearly 13 years.

The last time Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” was officially adapted for a visual medium was in 2004 when Jim Carrey took top billing as Count Olaf. When the film adaptation was released to theaters, then-President George W. Bush had just been re-elected for a second term and some of the highest-selling albums in the United States came from the likes of Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson.

Since then, we’ve seen the introduction and evolution of smartphones, we’ve gone through three presidential terms, we’ve witnessed the fall of Lavigne as a pop powerhouse, and, perhaps most importantly to this new adaptation, we’ve watched Netflix change how we consume television.

Instead of Carrey this time around, Neil Patrick Harris will take the reigns as the sinister Count in Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” out on the streaming service on Friday.

“I mostly drew from the text. I wanted it to be as true to the material as possible given that [Snicket] is actively involved in this iteration,” Harris said to The A.V. Club in 2016. “Plus, I hadn’t really read the books before, so it was all fresh and new to me.”

The initial eight episodes will cover the first four books in the series — compared to the film adaptation’s representation of the first three — with each book being split into two episodes.

“So it’s essentially almost a feature film per book,” Harris said. “It’s almost two hours per book. It’s kind of a great structure because it gives you the whole first episode to start it, create the conflict … then the second episode will be from that point into resolution.”

The film adaptation received some negative reactions from fans because of its softening of the source material. Count Olaf was given a more comedic edge to better meet Carrey’s talents, but Harris ensured readers that Netflix’s version will stick closer to the source material, without sacrificing a unique style of its own.

“[The show is] pretty faithful [to the books],” Harris said. “Yeah, there’s divergence. There’s some red herring storylines. There’s some musical numbers.”

“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” will be available to stream via Netflix on Friday.