East of Eden packs a lot of exposition into the opening episode, telling us how Cyrus Trask’s (Tracy Letts – Ghostbusters: Afterlife) first wife – and mother to Adam (Christopher Abbott – Wolf Man) – drowned herself when he was a kid, leading to Cyrus getting remarried and having another son, Charles.
Since I haven’t read the original novel, nor seen any adaptation, I will add that to keep an eye on which characters are which, I found the family tree on the novel’s Wikipedia page.
Opening in Connecticut, 1874, it’s a pre-Red Dead Redemption 2 time of tilling the land, with industrialisation a long way away, Cyrus is an over-demanding Dad, who makes sons do target practice, and still moans about having his leg cut off after the war.
Adam headed off on his travels after leaving the army, and tries to encourage his brother, Charles (Mike Faist – The Bikeriders), to leave the farm and come with him, but the latter is loyal to the family business and doesn’t want to stray outside his comfort zone.
But their world is turned on its head when Cathy Ames (Florence Pugh – Spider-Man Brand New Day) is found by the side of the road, badly beaten, but by who? Well, each episode is a separate chapter, filling in the backstory of the main characters as it goes, such as Cathy’s episode going back and forth between her younger self and the ‘present day’. Safe to say, I’d tear multiple new arseholes into them.
Overall, East Of Eden is very good stuff, and certainly well-made and acted, albeit taking a little time to get into – given the plot-heavy opener – but stick with it and it does bear fruit.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
East of Eden is on Netflix from today.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 50-60 minutes per episode (7 episodes)
Release date: October 1st 2026
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Garth Davis, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
Producer: Jack Sainte-Rose
Creator for TV: Zoe Kazan
Writers: Zoe Kazan, Alexander Chee
Novel: John Steinbeck
Music: Laura Karpman
Cast:
Cathy Ames: Florence Pugh
Adam Trask: Christopher Abbott
Charles Trask: Mike Faist
Lee: Hoon Lee
Sheriff Quinn: Robert Morgan
Mr. Bacon: Christopher Sommers
Joe Valery: Brad McMurray
Adolescent Cathy: Vaughan Reilly
Cyrus Trask: Tracy Letts
Cal Trask: Joseph Zada
Samuel Hamilton: Ciarán Hinds
Aron Trask: Joe Anders
Liza Hamilton: Anita Hegh
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.