by Kerry Torpey on January 25, 2018
Arts & Entertainment
by Ryan Cox ’18
A&E Staff
When Netflix first announced a television adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s popular, children’s book series A Series of Unfortunate Events, critics were skeptical. The 2004 feature film starring Jim Carrey as Count Olaf received generally mixed to poor reviews and was a failed attempt at turning the book series into a film franchise.
The Netflix series, which premiered in January 2017 and stars Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf, however, worked around the mistakes of the film, and its second season is slated to premiere on March 30.
Following the format of the first season, each book of the series occupies two episodes of the season, allowing the creators to flesh out all the details in the plot. Season two picks up where season one left off and will cover books five through nine of the series: The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, and The Carnivorous Carnival.
Season one received a 93 percent fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus: “enjoyably dark, A Series of Unfortunate Events matches the source material’s narrative as well as its tone, leaving viewers with a wonderfully weird, dry, gothic comedy.” The show was also praised for its handling of themes of grief and loss, in addition to its set design and casting.
The second season, then, has a considerable amount of pressure to live up to. Its teaser trailer featured Harris as Count Olaf, but did not offer many details besides the release date. Online sources showed no additional information, and it seems that Daniel Handler (real name of Lemony Snicket and executive producer of the series) is keeping the project as quiet as possible.
Handler did acknowledge the possibility of a third season, admitting that he hopes Netflix will green-light the final season. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Handler said, “We hope to get the go-ahead to do season three, which…given how quickly young actors age and change, we’re trying to film everything as quickly as possible…The third season would be the rest of [the book series].”
In addition to Harris, the series includes Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, Malina Weissman as Violet Baudelaire, and Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire. The first season features Will Arnett, Joan Cusack, and Alfre Woodard, and the second season plans to include Tony Hale, Nathan Fillion, and Sara Rue in its supporting cast.
Season one of Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is now streaming. Season two is scheduled to release on March 30 at 12:01 a.m.