In late 1999, American novelist Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) took the YA circuit by storm with his new series debut, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginnings. With reviews mostly positive throughout the years, and even Times Online referring to the book as “a literary phenomenon”, it’s safe to call Snicket’s work a modern YA classic; a classic literary series that has, up till now, been mistreated in cinema.

It’s not that the 2004 movie adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events was poor. Jim Carrey played Count Olaf aptly, makeup and costume designs were amazing, and it was a very entertaining film for this writer when he was 10 years old. It’s just that the film could’ve been much better. Perhaps the property wasn’t a good fit for the big screen, when the novels are written episodically, which better fits a syndicated TV schedule.

And that’s exactly what growing media powerhouse, Netflix is trying to do. Moviepilot.com reports that Netflix will be partnering with Paramount in creation of the show. Paramount, who produced the A Series of Unfortunate Events movie in 2004, should have a huge say in casting and the directorial hiring throughout the shows production. In fact, Kpopstarz.com reports that Carrey should have the role of Olaf secured, which is probably due to Paramount’s confidence in him.

This writer feels that Carrey is the best choice to play Olaf, even if Carrey has a tendency to go a little overboard on his acting. Thus far Netflix radiates class and quality. They’ve taken a failed experiment in the Daredevil movie and flipped it—saving fans of the character from being locked in a dark cellar—to create a quality series to be proud of. Netflix is acting as a white knight for abused cinematic properties and isn’t losing momentum.

Handler has been very humble in talking about the new TV series, “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.”

Interestingly enough, Kpopstarz.com also reports that A Series of Unfortunate Events fans are signing a petition to either have Zach Snyder or Tim Burton to direct the TV series.

The Netflix series is set to hit homes in 2016. More confirmed cast and the choice director will be breaking news very shortly. In the meantime, check out this fan-made poster by Adeptodemercurio: