A Series of Unfortunate Events

Premise

When a mysterious fire destroys their home and kills their parents, the Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, are placed in the care of their distant 'relative' Count Olaf, an actor who is determined to claim the family fortune for himself. Following Olaf's failed attempt to possess the Baudelaire fortune and his plot being exposed, the Baudelaires are placed in the custody of a series of mostly inept or unsympathetic guardians, as they try to elude Olaf and his followers, whilst attempting to uncover the mystery behind a secret society from their parents' past. The deadpan, mysterious, and melancholic Lemony Snicket narrates the Baudelaires' misadventures for the audience.

Cast and characters

Main

Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf, a failing actor who is determined to claim the Baudelaire fortune for himself. He is a member of the fire-starting side of the secret organization V.F.D. (Volunteer Fire Department). He has a unibrow and a tattoo resembling an eye on his left ankle, which is frequently used to identify him when he is disguised.

Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, the deadpan narrator and member of V.F.D. who is tasked with explaining the events during the lives of the Baudelaires.

Malina Weissman as Violet Baudelaire, the eldest Baudelaire sibling, a talented inventor and mechanic

Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire, the middle Baudelaire child, who holds an interest in literature and books

K. Todd Freeman as Arthur Poe, the family banker at Mulctuary Money Management and executor of the Baudelaire parents' estate, who is in charge of placing the Baudelaires in the care of a suitable guardian. He is often seen to be oblivious to the crimes around him despite the Baudelaire siblings telling him

Presley Smith as Sunny Baudelaire, the infant Baudelaire child with unnaturally strong teeth and eventually a love for cooking. Tara Strong provides Sunny's babbling sound effects, the meaning of which is often translated in subtitles. Smith's own voice was also used within the third season.

Lucy Punch as Esmé Squalor (seasons 2–3), a glamorous, wealthy financial advisor, who becomes an ally and love interest for Count Olaf

Dylan Kingwell as Duncan and Quigley Quagmire (main seasons 2–3; guest season 1), Isadora's brothers. Duncan is a keen journalist, while Quigley, a cartographist, is Isadora and Duncan's long-lost sibling who was thought to have perished in the fire at the Quagmire home.

Avi Lake as Isadora Quagmire (main season 2; guest seasons 1 & 3), Duncan and Quigley's sister who loves writing poetry, specifically couplets, which she learned to write from her parents

Recurring

Will Arnett as the Quagmires' father, a man associated with VFD who is trying to return home to his children

Cobie Smulders as the Quagmires' mother, a woman associated with VFD who is trying to return home to her children

Usman Ally as Fernald the Hook-Handed Man, a member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe with hooks instead of hands

Matty Cardarople as the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender, a member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe who does not have a specific gender

Cleo King as Eleanora Poe, Arthur Poe's wife and the editor-in-chief of The Daily Punctilio who loves pursuing sensationalist headlines

John DeSantis as the Bald Man, a tall bald-headed man who is another member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe

Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins as the White-Faced Women, two elderly twins who are members of Count Olaf's theatre troupe

Sara Canning as Jacquelyn Scieszka, Mr. Poe's standoffish secretary and a member of VFD

Patrick Breen as Larry Your-Waiter, a member of VFD who is seen working as a waiter at various establishments the Baudelaires visit including the Anxious Clown, Prufrock Preparatory's cafeteria, Café Salmonella, and the Hotel Denouement's Indian restaurant

Sara Rue as Olivia Caliban, a librarian at Prufrock Preparatory School who later enlists as a member of VFD when she becomes invested in the Baudelaires' plight and even becomes the latest Madame Lulu

Nathan Fillion as Jacques Snicket, the dashing adventurer brother of Lemony Snicket and member of VFD who enlists Olivia Caliban to help the Baudelaires

Guest

Daniel Handler cameos as a fish salesperson at Lake Lachrymose.

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

The first season adapts the first four books of the novel series: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window and The Miserable Mill.

Season 2 (2018)

The second season adapts books five through nine of the novel series: The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, and The Carnivorous Carnival.

Season 3 (2019)

The third and final season adapts the final four books of the novel series in seven episodes: The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End, with the final book being adapted as a single episode.

Production

Development

The thirteen A Series of Unfortunate Events novels, written by Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket from 1999 to 2006, achieved success in young adult fiction around the same time as the Harry Potter novels. As such, the Snicket books had been optioned to be filmed before they were published. This led to the development of a 2004 feature film, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which covered the narratives of the first three novels in the series. Barry Sonnenfeld, who has expressed his love for the series, was originally slated to direct the feature film and had hired Handler to write the screenplay. About 10 months into production, shortly after the casting of Jim Carrey as Olaf, there was a "big crisis", according to Handler, which caused producer Scott Rudin to walk away and Sonnenfeld left the production under unclear terms. With the film's completion in flux, its producing studios Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks fired Handler. While the film was eventually completed and released, sequels which would adapt the other novels in the series became unlikely due to "corporate shakeups" within DreamWorks, according to Handler, and the child actors that portrayed the Baudelaire children grew too old to star in a sequel.

Both Sonnenfeld and Handler still wanted to see the series fully fleshed out in a visual format, and with the onset of streaming television, believed this was a better method of presenting the series. Sonnenfeld approached Netflix with the idea, stressing that he wanted to make the series far less overproduced compared to the feature film, instead having the entire show able to be shot on stage in a dry and flat manner, and without having to hide any of the darker scenes such as character deaths. Netflix agreed, and in November 2014, publicly announced plans to adapt the book series into a television series in association with Paramount Television. Handler was named the series' executive producer. By September 2015, Netflix announced that Sonnenfeld's involvement as both director and executive producer, as well as Mark Hudis as showrunner, and Handler writing some of the scripts along with working with the series' writing team. However, in January 2016, Netflix announced that Hudis had left the project, with a replacement showrunner not named at the time.

The first season consists of eight episodes, with two episodes adapting each of the first four books of the series. Handler considered this more in line with how he had written the books in the manner of a serialized melodrama, citing The Perils of Pauline as one of his influences in writing the book series. In January 2017, Handler revealed that he was writing the series' second season, to consist of ten episodes adapting the fifth through ninth books of the series. A third season would adapt the remaining novels of the series, which Handler hoped "to get the go-ahead to do" since "given how quickly young actors age and change, we're trying to film everything as quickly as possible". In March 2017, Netflix revealed the series had been renewed for a second season by releasing a video on their social media pointing to a viral marketing website, where a letter written by Snicket revealed the decision. A month later, the series was "quietly" renewed for a third season, which Harris confirmed would be the final one for the series. While the screenplays written by Handler otherwise stay in concert with the books, Handler did add a new conclusion to the work that he felt gave some proper closure in an organic manner that did not take away from the series.

Casting

On December 3, 2015, an open casting call was announced for the roles of Violet and Klaus Baudelaire. Sonnenfeld had worked with Malina Weissman before on the film Nine Lives and had appreciated her ability to speak quickly without overacting, and selected her for Violet from her audition. They had more difficulty in landing an actor for Klaus, but Louis Hynes, who had no professional acting prior, had submitted a promising audition video. Casting flew Hynes from London to Los Angeles while in the middle of set production, and after about an hour of testing with Weissman, Hynes was selected as Klaus as a last-minute option. Both were announced by January 2016.

Handler had first considered Neil Patrick Harris for the role of Count Olaf after seeing him perform the opening number "It's Not Just for Gays Anymore", at the 65th Tony Awards in 2011, noting "I just immediately saw someone who could pull off a million things at once" as was necessary for the character of Olaf, who utilizes various disguises and accents in his quest to steal the Baudelaire fortune. Sonnenfeld also felt Harris had done enough work on both stage, screen, and film to handle the breadth of characterization that Olaf displayed over the course of the book series. Sonnenfeld had previously met Harris over Thanksgiving 2015, prior to Sonnenfeld being confirmed for the project. Sonnenfeld hinted to Harris about the potential role, and once Netflix hired Sonnenfeld, proceeded to offer him the role. In January 2016, Netflix announced that Harris had been cast as Count Olaf.

One of the key changes that Sonnenfeld and Handler wanted for the series was to make Lemony Snicket a more visible character narrating on adventures of the Baudelaire children from their relative future, allowing him to be in scenes without actually being part of the events. Casting Patrick Warburton for Lemony was Handler's idea, despite Sonnenfeld having worked with Warburton in several previous productions. Handler felt Warburton was an actor that can deliver comedic lines without being too obvious about it, as well as bringing the emotional breadth that the character needed to show. Warburton's casting was confirmed by March 2016.

It was also revealed that Presley Smith would play Sunny Baudelaire, whose quasi-nonsensical lines are voiced by Tara Strong. The casting department had initially sought a set of twin infants for the role, a standard practice to avoid complications from weariness during filming. None of those auditioned had the look that they felt was appropriate for the part. Smith however, had both the personality and look they felt appropriate for Sunny, and took the risk of casting a single actor for the role.

Filming

Production began in May 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in August 2016 several cast members expressed through social media that filming had finished. Filming for the second season began in April 2017. The third season began filming on January 5, 2018.

One aspect of the series of books that the production team wanted to be captured in the series was the notion of a lack of specific time period or geography for the settings; Handler stated that he wrote enough for establishing set pieces, but purposely left more specific details vague "in order for young readers to fill in the blanks themselves". Sonnenfeld wanted to capture that same sense of ambiguous time and place, and he and his team worked to try to define a set of subjective rules of what elements could be included. Sonnenfeld brought on Bo Welch, production designer for Edward Scissorhands, which Handler considered to capture the same sense of a "familiar but completely imaginary" suburban setting he had in mind for his books. While the production team used computer-generated imagery where needed, they attempted to avoid this use where possible, such as by using large painted backdrops, by key scenic artist John E. Wilcox, rather than employing green screen filming.

Music

In April 2016, Nick Urata was initially reported to be composing music for the series. Once the first season was released, it was revealed that Urata collaborated with Daniel Handler to compose the main title theme, "Look Away", as well as various original songs that appear throughout the series, with Handler contributing the lyrics. The first season's original score was composed by James Newton Howard, with his frequent collaborators Sven Faulconer and Chris Bacon filling in to score certain episodes. In the second season, Jim Dooley joined the production as a composer and subsequently wrote the music for eight of the season's ten episodes and the rest of season 3, with Nick Urata to compose the second season's first two episodes.

"Look Away", the theme song for the opening titles of the series, is performed by Neil Patrick Harris. In keeping with the tone of the book series, the song warns the viewer against continuing to watch the unpleasant story any further. The lyrics of the middle part of the song change for each pair of episodes, comprising a brief synopsis of those episodes' premise.

Visual effects

Zoic Studios created visual effects for the series, including the effects for many of Sunny Baudelaire's actions. Tippett Studio also did work on the series, including the effects for the destruction of Josephine's house, landscape shots of Lake Lachrymose and some of the more movement heavy Sunny Baudelaire shots.

Release

All eight episodes of the first season of A Series of Unfortunate Events were released worldwide on Netflix on January 13, 2017, in Ultra HD 4K. The second season was released on March 30, 2018. The third season was released on January 1, 2019.

Marketing

On July 5, 2015, a video titled "An Unfortunate Teaser" was uploaded to YouTube by a user named "Eleanora Poe". Netflix quickly released a statement saying "This was not released from Netflix." Media outlets were almost unanimous in agreement that the trailer was fan-made. However, Caitlin Petrakovitz of CNET argued that the trailer may be real and that Netflix's carefully worded denial was a marketing campaign, noting the user name "Eleanora Poe" being the same as a character from the series, and that a shellac record seen in the trailer was of The Gothic Archies, a band who provided the theme music for the audio books of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The trailer was later revealed to be a spec promo, similar to a spec script, by an independent commercial director, whom Netflix contracted to make a title sequence for the series after the video's popularity, though they did not go ahead with the concept.

In October 2016, Netflix released the first teaser trailer for A Series of Unfortunate Events, where Warburton narrates the events of the series as Lemony Snicket. A trailer, featuring footage from the series and Neil Patrick Harris's character, Count Olaf, was released by Netflix in November 2016, followed shortly by the first full trailer. The second trailer was released in December 2016, followed by a "holiday-themed" trailer from Count Olaf leading fans to a viral marketing website for the fictional Valorous Farms Dairy, which featured four holiday e-cards for download.

As part of the marketing for the third season, Netflix released a YouTube trailer of Count Olaf and Lemony Snicket on November 13, 2018 giving alternative accounts of the events of the previous seasons, with the former describing them as a series of "learning experiences" and the latter as a "series of unfortunate events". On December 10, Netflix released a second YouTube trailer, featuring Allison Williams as Kit Snicket and introducing Richard E. Grant as the villainous "Man with a Beard but No Hair" and Beth Grant as the villainous "Woman with Hair but No Beard".

Reception

Audience viewership

At the time of the series release, Netflix did not reveal subscriber viewership numbers for any of their original series. Symphony Technology Group compiled data for the first season based on people using software on their devices that measure television viewing by detecting a program's sound. According to Symphony, 3.755 million viewers aged 18–49 within the United States were watching an episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events over the average minute in its first weekend of release.

Critical response

The first season of A Series of Unfortunate Events received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the season an approval rating of 94% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 8.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "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." On Metacritic the season has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Erik Adams of The A.V. Club awarded the season a B and praised it for treating "mature themes like grief, loss, and disappointment with sardonic honesty". Adams compared the program positively to the Adam West Batman series, calling it "kids stuff with adult sophistication, driven by two-part stories, outrageous visuals, and the scenery-chewing of big-name guest stars". Ben Travers of Indiewire gave the series an A−, saying that it "proves as inspirational and endearing as it claims to be forlorn and heartbreaking". Brian Lowry of CNN praised the showrunners for "infusing the show with a lemony-fresh feel, conjuring a series similar to the fantastical tone of Pushing Daisies". Lowry wrote that "the show proves a good deal of fun" and that "Harris dives into his over-the-top character with considerable gusto." He also argued that the series improved upon the 2004 film.

Several critics praised the television series as a better adaptation of the books than the 2004 feature film, which starred Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. Kelly Lawler of USA Today felt the television format gave the stories more room to develop, the addition of Warburton as the fourth wall-breaking Snicket helped to convey some of the wordplay humor used in the books, and Harris's portrayal of Olaf was "much more dynamic, and creepier" than Carrey's version. The Verge's Chaim Gartenburg said that the show follows the books much more faithfully than the film, and "nails down the tone that made the stories so special". Los Angeles Times writer Robert Lloyd felt that the backgrounds of Sonnenfeld and Welch made them "the right people for this job, set in a milieu that is hard to fix in time, except to say it is not now", in capturing the tones of the book compared to the feature film.

Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com, on the other hand, gave the series a negative review, calling it "an unfunny parody of sadness" that is "never as clever as it wants to be" and would only appeal to fans of the books. Caroline Framke of Vox Media praised the series for its unique and weird visuals, but found the show's tone, pacing and performances to be haphazard and considered the show to be "literally, a series of unfortunate events".