Netflix's latest literary adaptation, East of Eden, is putting one of American fiction's most infamous characters under a fresh lens. In a new interview with Collider, stars Florence Pugh, Mike Faist, and Christopher Abbott opened up about tackling John Steinbeck's sprawling 1952 novel and its complicated antihero, Cathy Ames.
The seven-part miniseries, written by Zoe Kazan, arrives as part of Netflix's aggressive push into classic book adaptations. That strategy is paying off: literature-themed titles generated 9 billion global views in 2025, nearly 20% of all hours watched on the platform. With East of Eden, Netflix is betting on a story about family, generational trauma, and the age-old question of whether children are doomed to repeat their parents' mistakes.
A New Kind of Cathy Ames
At the center of this retelling is Cathy, played by Pugh, who also serves as an executive producer. In Steinbeck's novel, Cathy is portrayed as innately evil—a satanic figure in the Cain and Abel allegory. Her femininity is weaponized as monstrous, and her body is depicted as a destructive force. But Kazan and Pugh wanted to offer a more nuanced reading.
"Every generation is going to have their version of what's important in every book," Pugh told Collider. "But what Zoe has done for Cathy is allowed for there to be some understanding of why she is the way that she is."
One crucial change involves how the story handles sexual assault. In the novel, Cathy uses rape as a tactic to destroy and frame men. The Netflix adaptation instead treats rape as the horrifying act it truly is. "Once we allow for that to be true, we're actually already empathizing with the character from the beginning of her journey," Pugh explained. She emphasized that the series doesn't excuse Cathy's actions: "We're not saying she isn't these things." Instead, it gives her trauma the weight it deserves, leaving viewers to decide how that shapes their understanding.
Mike Faist and the Human Question of Good vs. Evil
Mike Faist, who plays Adam's brother Charles, sees the story's central conflict as deeply human. Steinbeck's biblical inspiration is literal: two generations of brothers with names beginning with C and A, echoing Cain and Abel, each labeled good or evil from birth. Faist's Charles is the spurned Cain figure, while Christopher Abbott's Adam is the favored son.
"The story's central question is whether people are bound by their past or can choose who they become each day," Faist said. That tension between fate and free will drives the series, making it resonate far beyond its early-20th-century setting.
Christopher Abbott's Deep Dive into Adam Trask
For Christopher Abbott, the novel provided invaluable backstory for Adam Trask, including scenes that never made it into the series. "The novel gave me valuable backstory for Adam Trask," he noted, highlighting how the source material informed his performance even when certain moments weren't filmed.
Abbott, who is also set to play Marvel's Professor X, joins a cast that includes Tracy Letts as Cyrus Trask. The trio's commitment to these complex characters suggests Netflix's East of Eden is aiming for something more than a faithful retelling—it's a modern interpretation that puts its indelible antihero front and center.
With Pugh's star power and Kazan's personal connection to the material—her grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film starring James Dean—this bold new take on Steinbeck's classic is poised to spark conversations when it premieres. And as Netflix continues to invest in literary adaptations, the October 1 premiere could be one of the streamer's most talked-about events of the year.
