Nathan Fillion Once Shared What Made Doing a ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ Frustrating
Actor Nathan Fillion reteamed with Neil Patrick Harris to work on the Netflix series Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. While doing the show, Fillion revealed the one thing about it that drove him crazy.
Nathan Fillion on working with his ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ co-stars
Harris helped cast Fillion in season 2 of the popular Netflix show, where the Gone Girl actor plays the evil and mysterious titular character. Fillion and Harris already worked together for the web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. So when it was time to cast Snicket’s more noble brother, Harris immediately had Fillion in mind.
“I was a big proponent of Nathan’s casting,” Harris told TV Line. “I think [Patrick and Nathan] come from the same world actor-wise. I could totally see them being siblings. And Nathan [possesses] great style. He has great focus and force and intention, which is what you needed for [the role of Jacques].”
Fillion didn’t have to think twice about doing the series. Speaking with TV Fanatic, he confided that he was already an admirer of the Netflix series’ rich world. Also, he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with Harris again after so many years.
“It’s such a beautiful program. My God, it’s so good. Spooky painting, you know what I mean? Just really gross place you wouldn’t wanna live and it’s so gorgeous. You’re just like, “It’s captivating.” It’s written so eloquently,” Fillion said. “The rhythms are so attractive. There’s so much going on in one scene and then the chance to work with Neil again? I mean, why not? Of course, I would do that. We slip into the roles that we’re both very, very comfortable with. Playing enemies. It’s a win-win.”
Apart from Harris, Fillion would be working alongside a bunch of new faces for the Netflix show. Among them were the series’ main cast of characters, all of whom were much younger actors. Fillion touched on what made it difficult to work with co-stars who were essentially kids to him.
“Here’s something that drove me crazy. It’s such an amazing world and there is so much beauty in it, that the kids are the smartest guys in the room. Always gets a little frustrating for me. I’m that guy. But I can see how the entirety is satisfying for a younger audience watching it and wanting some credit. So, kids being treated like kids, I couldn’t get exhausted by that,” Fillion said.
Nathan Fillion explained the difference between Netflix and network shows
A Series of Unfortunate Events marked the first time Fillion found himself working on a streaming show. The actor’s rich filmography is full of successful network projects like Castle and Firefly. There was no difference between the process of doing both. However, Fillion noticed that Netflix seemed willing to take more chances than the average network show.
“The day-to-day is the same. The work is the same,” he said. “The kind of projects are I’d say, different. I think Netflix takes a lot more risks when it comes to ‘Let’s see if this sticks.’ I think networks have a finite amount that show they could do any of that. Networks have a whole lot of concern about, ‘If we put this on in a very important time slot and it doesn’t survive, that’s our investment.’ Whereas Netflix is a different animal. They take more risks and once your project is out there, it’s accessible at any point in time. If you didn’t tune in on Wednesday, that’s totally good. You can still binge-watch on Thursday.”
