Skip to main content

Second 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' trailer spans four novels in two minutes

Netflix has released a second trailer for its upcoming adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. The series is set to star Neil Patrick Harris as the villainous Count Olaf, and Patrick Warburton as the titular author and narrator Snicket.

A Series of Unfortunate Events tells the story of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, three children who are forced to resist Count Olaf’s attempts to steal their family fortune after the untimely death of their parents. Over the course of 13 novels, the orphans delve into a mystery that links their family with Olaf.

Recommended Videos

“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, that story is streaming elsewhere,” Snicket states at the beginning of the trailer. “I would advise all our viewers to watch something more pleasant instead.”

Warburton’s presence in the trailer seems to confirm that we’ll actually see Snicket on screen in this adaptation, whereas in the 2004 film, Jude Law’s performance as the character was limited to spoken narration. The new footage also confirms exactly which books from the series will be covered in the first season of the Netflix show.

It stands to reason that the first novel, The Bad Beginning, will be adapted for the show, given that it introduces the Baudelaire children and their nemesis Count Olaf. However, we also see Olaf’s Stephano disguise from The Reptile Room, Aunt Josephine from The Wide Window, and the mill from The Miserable Mill.

Each book will seemingly be adapted across two episodes of the show. This might seem like cause for concern, but given that each novel clocks in at around 200 pages, there should be plenty of time to do these stories justice in this format.

All eight episodes of the first season of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events will be available on Netflix from January 13, 2017.

Brad Jones
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms pushed back to 2026
A knight holds his sword as he walks down the street.

One of the ideas behind running two different Game of Thrones prequels at once was to keep the franchise alive on HBO and Max during the long breaks between seasons. However, the next prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, will now be skipping 2025 altogether. And that may mean both House of the Dragon season 3 and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms could come out in the same year.

Via Variety, HBO confirmed the delay when it screened a trailer for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms during its upfront presentation. The trailer ended with a vague 2026 release window, but HBO CEO Casey Bloys suggested that it would be released in winter 2026. That would have it premiere on HBO and Max in either January or February 2026. HBO hasn't announced when House of the Dragon will return. But if season 3 doesn't premiere in 2026, then pushing it back to 2027 would mean a nearly three-year gap between seasons. House of the Dragon season 3 is currently in production.

Read more
Andor: Why the Disney+ show is a triumph of Star Wars’ flexibility
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor inside a ship in the Star Wars series Andor season 2.

Director Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story easily became the best Star Wars movie of the Disney era. Even so, few could have predicted that writer Tony Gilroy would also turn Rogue One into a launchpad for Andor, one of Star Wars’s best live-action productions in general. With Andor season 2 finished and the story of Diego Luna’s tragic hero, Cassian, concluded, the series cemented itself as another example of the galaxy far, far away’s creative versatility.

There is no question that Andor’s approach to realism is decidedly different than much of the franchise’s more operatic sci-fi adventures. While the Disney+ Star Wars series’ adherence to grit and realism might not strike a chord with fans who appreciate the franchise’s more fantastical side, it’s still a triumph for its image as a whole. Whether realistic or mystical, Andor shows across two seasons how this franchise’s sandbox rewards different sci-fi subgenres without losing its identity or needing a big legacy name to sell it.

Read more
We’re never going to see a movie like Mad Max: Fury Road again
Nicholas Hoult and Tom Hardy in Mad Max: Fury Road.

The second people got their hands on it, Mad Max: Fury Road felt special. The movie, which came 30 years after the last installment in this franchise, felt like a miracle. Set almost entirely in the desert, its sheer scale and intensity were so marvelous that, even though it's a deeply weird movie, the 2016 Oscars simply couldn't resist nominating it for many awards.

10 years later, Fury Road's stature has only grown. Even though we got Furiosa, which I'd argue is every bit as good as Fury Road, Miller's first return to Mad Max since Beyond Thunderdome is undeniably the one with the bigger cultural imprint. It's a movie we're not likely to ever see again, not just because of its greatness, but because no one else will be dumb enough to try.

Read more