Netflix has released the official trailer for ‘East of Eden’, Zoe Kazan’s new limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel, with Florence Pugh (Oppenheimer, Dune: Part Two) taking centre stage as Cathy Ames ahead of the drama’s October premiere.
Rather than simply retelling Steinbeck’s sprawling family saga, Kazan’s version places fresh emphasis on Cathy, one of the novel’s most memorable and morally complicated figures. The trailer opens with Cathy reflecting on whether some people are simply born without kindness or conscience, setting up the series’ central question of whether good and evil are fixed, inherited or ultimately a choice.
“The thing that was really important to me was to stay rooted in the text of the book when it came to exploring who Cathy is,” Kazan tells Tudum. “Basically everything that’s in the series has at least a root in the book.”
The story spans three generations of the Trask family, beginning with stern patriarch Cyrus, played by Tracy Letts (Lady Bird, Homeland). His sons Adam and Charles are played by Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, Catch-22) and Mike Faist (Challengers, West Side Story), while Adam’s sons Aron and Cal are played by Joe Anders (Bonus Track, I Am Ruth) and Joseph Zada (We Were Liars, Invisible Boys).
Their story intersects with Cathy’s across a period stretching from the aftermath of the American Civil War to the opening days of World War I. The Hamilton family also features heavily, led by Samuel Hamilton, played by Ciarán Hinds (Belfast, Game of Thrones), while Hoon Lee (Warrior, Banshee) plays the Trasks’ loyal manservant Lee.
For Kazan, adapting ‘East of Eden’ also comes with a rather unusual family connection. Her grandfather, Elia Kazan, directed the celebrated 1955 film adaptation, although this new version takes on a much larger portion of Steinbeck’s epic novel and shifts the focus towards Cathy.
Kazan also drew on Steinbeck’s own writing journals while developing the series, including the letters he wrote to his editor alongside the manuscript. Those journals helped shape her approach to making the adaptation feel both epic and intimate.
At the heart of ‘East of Eden’ is the idea that people are not necessarily trapped by their past. As Lee puts it in the trailer, “Our future isn’t determined by our past,” before adding: “Whatever you do, it will be you who does it.”
‘East of Eden’ premieres Thursday, 1st October 2026 on Netflix.
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