At Netflix’s Upfront presentation on May 13, 2026, the company confirmed that East of Eden, its seven-episode limited series based on John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel, is set to arrive in Fall 2026.
Netflix isn’t selling this as a plain period retelling. The version it’s pitching leans more psychological and more current in tone, a reinterpretation of the Trask family saga that still holds on to the novel’s big ideas about inheritance, morality, and the fight between good and evil, but will probably feel darker, closer, and more intimate through Cathy Ames’s point of view.
Florence Pugh plays Cathy Ames, with Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask, Mike Faist as Charles Trask, and Hoon Lee as Lee. Pugh is also an executive producer. In Netflix’s early marketing, including the first-look teaser and poster, Cathy is right at the center instead of being treated only as Steinbeck’s near-mythic embodiment of evil.
If you’re in the mood for a prestige literary adaptation with a sharper psychological edge, this already looks like one to keep an eye on, especially given Florence Pugh’s track record with emotionally intense material and Zoe Kazan’s stated goal, alongside co-showrunner Jeb Stuart, to adapt the full novel and give Cathy Ames the room to be fully explored. Kazan is also Elia Kazan’s granddaughter.
Garth Davis directs the first four episodes, and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre takes the final three. The series is co-produced by FIFTH SEASON and Anonymous Content, and it’ll hit Netflix after filming in New Zealand, which ran from October 2024 through March 2025.
