Zoe Kazan’s East of Eden Reimagines Steinbeck’s Epic for a New Generation

John Steinbeck once described East of Eden as two books in one: “the story of my country and the story of me.” For Zoe Kazan, those words became a guiding principle as she brought the 1952 novel to the screen for the 21st century.

“I really took that as my credo,” Kazan tells Tudum. The series, she says, needed to feel both “epic and intimate” and to carry the same personal weight for her that the novel did for Steinbeck, even though his story was deeply rooted in his own family.

Kazan also has a particularly personal connection to the material. Her grandfather, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Elia Kazan, directed the 1955 film adaptation of East of Eden, which starred James Dean.

Her approach to the story, however, is very different from his. Kazan wrote and executive produced all seven episodes of the new series, choosing to expand the novel rather than closely reproduce the portion of it that inspired the earlier film.

“The movie isn’t a super faithful adaptation of the small part of the book that it is adapting,” she says. For Kazan, the larger story offered a chance to explore Steinbeck’s world more fully and “fall in love with all these characters.”

Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames

At the center of that world is Cathy Ames, the calculating antihero whose actions shape much of East of Eden. Florence Pugh takes on the role, and Kazan says she never seriously considered anyone else.

“I didn’t have a backup,” Kazan says. “I didn’t have another person that I thought would be just as good. She is the exact right person to play Cathy.”

Watching Pugh work during the five-month production only strengthened that conviction. Kazan describes the actor’s connection to the camera as unmatched.

“Her awareness of the camera is unparalleled,” she says. “I don’t use this word lightly: I think she’s a genius.”

Even after observing Pugh throughout the entire shoot, Kazan says she still cannot fully explain how the actor approaches her work. She could see Pugh’s dedication and how deeply the role mattered to her, but the preparation behind her performance remained largely invisible.

Unfolding Cathy’s Story

Cathy has long been one of the most debated figures in East of Eden, with readers continuing to question her motives and nature decades after the novel was published.

Kazan wanted to preserve that complexity while giving audiences a deeper understanding of the woman behind the archetype. Rather than reinventing Cathy, she focused on gradually revealing more of her.

“I wanted to make sure that she was also a person and not just an archetype,” Kazan says. That meant “doing some unfolding rather than inventing.”

She also emphasizes that the series remains grounded in Steinbeck’s original work. Everything portrayed in the adaptation, she says, has at least a root in the book.

A Story Passed Through Generations

The story stretches across generations, bringing Cathy together with the Trask and Hamilton families as they establish their lives in California’s Salinas Valley. The families are portrayed by a cast that includes Mike Faist, Christopher Abbott, and Ciarán Hinds.

For Kazan, the relationships between those generations are central to what makes East of Eden so enduring. The series examines what people inherit from those who came before them, and how those inheritances shape the people they become.

“What gets handed down?” Kazan asks. “What are you carrying? How do we reconcile ourselves with our shadow selves?”

Those questions sit at the heart of Kazan’s adaptation as she brings Steinbeck’s sweeping family saga to a new audience.

East of Eden premieres on Netflix on Oct. 1.