‘A Series Of Unfortunate Events’ Star Patrick Warburton On The Importance Of Finding Humor In Lemony Snicket’s Dark World

Since 1999 when the first book hit shelves, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” has amassed something of a cult following. After the first book’s release came 11 more, followed by a movie in 2004. The series, originally written by Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket, is returning with yet another on-screen adaptation, this time in show format for Netflix.

Patrick Warburton has been chosen to play Lemony, the show’s “not-so-detached” and despondent narrator. While both his character and the overall tone of the show errs on the dismal side, the actor insists that there is humor to be found in the story, which follows three children orphaned after their mother and father die in a “terrible and suspicious” house fire. In fact, Warburton says without any semblance of humor — dark as it may be — “A Series of Unfortunate Events” would be “unbearable misery.”

“Nothing trumps imagination. There are fans of the books that see no humor in it at all. Well, there’s lots of humor in it — there has to be, otherwise it would just be unbearable misery,” he explained in an interview with International Business Times. “It has to be a fun journey, an intriguing journey.”

Warburton’s own children refused to read the books growing up after learning this fact. He claims all three found “A Series of Unfortunate Events” to be “too sad,” but he assured both fans and novice viewers that the story is so much more. In addition to having humorous elements, Warburton, 52, told IBT viewers will find that the Netflix original is “really about tenacity and fortuitousness.” The orphans, whom Lemony is “always keeping an eye on,” are constantly being pursued by the evil Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris). They manage to stay one step ahead of him at all times, despite the intervention of adults in their lives which repeatedly puts them further in harm’s way.

“In many ways things are going to continue to go south — horribly, horribly wrong,” he said. “But we know that these three children survive because they’re tenacious and they’re brilliant and bright and clever. They see things that all of the well-meaning, inept adults around them don’t see and they manage to stay one step ahead of Count Olaf and his evil henchmen.”

Even with all these elements, Warburton says what really makes Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” worthy of binge-watching is the way the story is told and who is chosen to make those decisions. The actor praised both Handler, who wrote the books, and Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed the Netflix series, for creating this one-of-a-kind world in both written and visual capacities. Warburton called Sonnefeld “the best man for the job,” explaining that his way of shotmaking has a “signature about it.”

“He becomes a character in whatever he shoots or makes, which I believe lends itself really well to a project like this,” Warburton said.

“The show looks brilliant, all the actors are wonderful, the sets are amazing. I think what fans should take from this — going into it, at least — is that this is the way that Daniel and Barry wanted to tell these stories, so hopefully everybody enjoys them.”

While Warburton couldn’t give much away about what to expect from the show before its premiere Friday, he did open up about a few of his favorite scenes. Because his character doesn’t interact directly with anyone except the viewer — a fact that the actor joked was unfair with a cast this good — he remained focused, largely on the storytelling and tone. His favorite scenes involved Lemony’s interesting entrances and exits in any given scene.

“Lemony might appear from underneath the floor or a table lamp and things like that. I like the creative visual shotmaking process,” he said. “I [also] liked the writing. Sometimes Lemony’s perspective on things and the way he would weave and tell a story or bring things together — I appreciated the craft that went into writing his dialog.”

“A Series of Unfortunate Events” is now streaming on Netflix.