Back in 2004, Brad Silberling directed the live action adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events with Jim Carrey in one of the leading roles as Count Olaf. However, the film didn’t spawn a franchise or a sequel as it had been expected to.
According to Deadline, Paramount’s TV division is ready to try to restart the “A Series of Unfortunate Events” franchise with a live action series on Netflix. Apparently, Paramount TV is fast tracking the project and a search for a director is already underway.
As created and written by Daniel Handler (through his pen name, Lemony Snicket), the 13 books in the A Series of Unfortunate Events novel series revolved around the trials and misadventures of the Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny following the death of their parents. Their distant relative, Count Olaf was the primary villain for the series as he attempted to steal the Baudelaire fortune from the orphans.
In a cheeky statement, Handler (writing as Snicket) said “I can’t believe it. After years of providing top-quality entertainment on demand, Netflix is risking its reputation and its success by associating itself with my dismaying and upsetting books.”
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Netflix recently picked up a new live action “Richie Rich” series in addition to an already aggressive original programming slate that includes new seasons of “Orange Is The New Black” and “House of Cards” in addition to Marvel’s “Daredevil” and “Sense8.” The thing to keep in mind is that Netflix sees itself as a competitor to HBO. And Netflix has already demonstrated its willingness to spend a lot of money on original programing as a way to further that goal.
If Paramount and Netflix continue to push the Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events adaptation at an accelerated pace, it could premiere in late 2015 or in early 2016.
