There’s Some Good & Some Truly Terrible News About ‘A Series Of Unfortunate Events’ Season 3

By the time Netflix drops A Series Of Unfortunate Events Season 2 on March 30, the young adult literary adaptation will sadly be two-thirds finished. A Series Of Unfortunate Events Season 3 was announced by TVLine only a few weeks after the streaming service had confirmed that Season 2 was on its way. A premiere date for the third season has not been announced yet, but there's a good reason why you may not want it to be soon.

Because in advance of the Season 2 premiere, star Neil Patrick Harris confirmed that the series will end after three seasons to TV Guide. That may be a disappointment to fans (though melancholy author/narrator Lemony Snicket, portrayed by Patrick Warburton, is probably relieved), but it makes sense. The first season covered the first four books, the next five are adapted in Season 2, and the remaining four books will easily fit into a third season. The final season will also remain faithful to the original book series, according to Harris, who discussed the series' approach in the same interview. "We've intentionally been very truthful and factual and loyal to the books," he explained.

Now, die-hard fans have probably noticed a discrepancy or two, like book characters who are missing or combined, as well as Count Olaf's musical numbers. "But for the most part," Harris told TV Guide, "we're sticking to the structure of what already worked." And, especially when compared to the 2004 film adaption, it's true — the series' first season rather faithfully included not just the general storylines from The Bad Beginning through The Miserable Mill, but also included hints and clues about the broader storyline, like flashbacks that introduce the Quagmire triplets and the organization V.F.D., which inform the story more and more as the series goes on.

If you're curious about what Season 3 will look like, Harris has given a few glimpses on his Instagram, as the series is already in production. On March 1, Harris posted a selfie in his Count Olaf costume, with the actors playing Klaus and Violet in the background, dressed in what look like sailing outfits — this could be a peek into the octopus-shaped submarine Count Olaf sails in The Grim Grotto, the rare book where he doesn't don a disguise. That's just an educated guess, but Harris posted another peek behind the scenes of A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 3 in late January that's a bit more specific — it introduces the setting Mount Fraught, which fans may remember from The Slippery Slope, the series' tenth entry.

That's the place where Sunny is held against her will and forced to become Count Olaf's servant and threatened constantly with the danger of falling off of the treacherous peak. It's also the book where Sunny begins to transform from a toddler who loves biting things into a child who can more easily communicate with her siblings and begins to develop an interest in cooking, which will be interesting to see adapted from a novel to the screen.

However, that doesn't mean that there will never be more Lemony Snicket material on Netflix. Daniel Handler, the author behind the series who writes in the voice of Lemony Snicket, wrote a prequel series, All the Wrong Questions, about the Snicket siblings (who should be introduced as a part of the Baudelaires' story in Seasons 2 or 3) and the earlier days of V.F.D., as well as The Unauthorized Autobiography, which reveals (and doesn't reveal) a bit more about the characters. Netflix hasn't made any announcements about intentions to adapt All the Wrong Questions, but it is possible that even without continuing the Baudelaires' story in some form that A Series of Unfortunate Events could live on onscreen. But for now, Season 3 seems to be on track for a debut in early 2019.