East of Eden Series
Netflix’s East of Eden adaptation purposefully omits the novel's Hamilton family storyline.
Anonymous
Netflix’s seven-episode East of Eden adapts John Steinbeck’s multigenerational novel, with Zoe Kazan writing and Florence Pugh’s Cathy Ames at the center of a story about the Trask family. Co-showrunner Jeb Stuart says the series largely leaves out the Hamilton family storyline, which carries an important maternal dimension in the novel; he called the decision risky but said it helped the show’s story work better. The adaptation draws on a novel previously brought to the screen in the 1955 film directed by Kazan’s grandfather, Elia Kazan. Though set in California’s Salinas Valley, the series was filmed primarily in New Zealand, including Dunedin and Oamaru. It is scheduled to begin streaming October 1.
Key Points
1
The adaptation’s story spans decades and is bookended by the American Civil War and World War I, tracing how family wounds pass between generations.
2
Mike Faist plays Charles Trask and Christopher Abbott plays Adam Trask, opposite Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames.
3
Beyond Dunedin and Oamaru, the production also filmed for four days in Auckland’s Cheltenham area under the working title “Timshel,” a reference to an idea from Steinbeck’s novel.
4
Oamaru’s Victorian Precinct was made to resemble early-20th-century California; locations manager Phil Turner described the sites as “incredibly unique locations.”
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