| “ | Look at all those freaks! There's a man with hooks instead of hands! | ” |
— Mr. Willums, on The Hook-Handed Man, mistaking him for a freak
|
Mr. Willums is a character exclusive to the Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. He is a member of the audience at the Caligari Carnival, watching both the House of Freaks show and the Lion Pit show.
Biography
Mr. Willums is married to Mrs. Willums and has two children, Skip Willums and Little Trixie Willums. He likely lives somewhere nearby the Caligari Carnival in The Hinterlands.
Shortly after the so-called Baudelaire murders supposedly burn down the Heimlich Hospital, Mr. Willums attends Count Olaf's House of Freaks show at the Caligari Carnival and mistakes The Hook-Handed Man for a freak due to his hooks, but the henchman replies that he's not a freak as he is playing the calliope. Throughout the show he interacts with Olaf, making fun of the freaks; Hugo the hunchback, Colette the contortionist and Kevin the so-called ambidextrous freak. At the end he is the only one who applauds.
Later he returns to the Carnival for the lions show in which one of the freaks was to be devoured, and brings along his wife and his two children. Before the show, when Olaf first reveals the lions, Willums is unimpressed but soon grows more excited.
During the show the next morning he asks why Olaf gets to pick which freak gets devoured, and his son asks whether the whole event was legal, both of which annoy Olaf. When his daughter asks whether it would be scary, Mr. Willums assures her the event was advertised as being family entertainment. After Madame Lulu ends up being thrown to the lions, Mr. Willums and his family are horrified. They most likely escape the carnival before Olaf and his theatre troupe burn it down.
Behind the scenes
- Mr. Willums was played by David Burtka, the husband of Neil Patrick Harris who played Count Olaf.
- He seemingly fills the role of The Man With Pimples On His Chin and the Woman With Dyed Hair, replacing them in several scenes and saying lines spoken by them in the book version of The Carnivorous Carnival.
Quotes
- "Don't worry, Trixie. This was advertised as family entertainment. I'm sure whoever is eaten by lions deserves it."
- "I'm ready to push someone myself!"
Appearances