A John Steinbeck novel and classic James Dean film, East Of Eden is set for a Netflix TV adaptation starring Florence Pugh and Christopher Abbot.
James Dean famously only made three films, one of them being a film adaptation of East Of Eden. The original novel was by John Steinbeck, that giant of American literature, and his transplanting of the Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel Biblical tale into a sprawling early 20th Century Californian epic remains a wonderful read.
The 1955 film was responsible for building James Dean’s status as a Hollywood legend, a status that would be forever confirmed by his death the same year, shortly before the release of Rebel Without A Cause. Steinbeck’s book covers a significantly longer period than the 1955 film, so much in fact that it would take a TV series to do it justice. Rejoice then, because that’s exactly what we’re getting.
According to Deadline, Christopher Abbott is in talks to join Florence Pugh in a limited series adaptation of East Of Eden that is being commissioned by Netflix. With the project coming to the small screen, we might lose the epic widescreen grandeur of California’s Salinas Valley, but it will be great to see Steinbeck’s multi-generational tale told in full.
There’s a twist too: according to the report, the new series is set to shift the narrative perspective away from the original film (and to some extent, the novel) and focus it on Pugh’s character of Cathy Trask.
The synopsis for the project describes it as exploring ‘the novel’s themes of trauma and repair; love and betrayal; duty and free will. The series will sketch an intimate portrait of the Trask family against the backdrop of huge historical forces — or, as Steinbeck put it, “the story of my country and the story of me.”
Abbott will play Adam Trask in the series, with Pugh playing his wife, Cathy. Abbott popped up recently in a memorable scene or three in Poor Things and is set to headline Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man which is now slated for a 2025 release. We’ll bring you more on this project as we hear it.
