British Ask October cover star Florence Pugh is firing on all cylinders: she’ll break your heart alongside Andrew Garfield in The Time We Live In, and then, next spring Marvel’s very cool character *Yelena* will surprise you as she reprises her role as Belova in Charlie’s Angels. She won’t stop there – Netflix has now confirmed that she’ll also star in a highly anticipated new series based on a literary classic: The Tragic East of Eden.
According to Variety, the upcoming seven-part film based on John Steinbeck’s 1952 masterpiece will “trace the multi-generational saga of the Trask family, who settled in Salisbury, California, in the early 20th century” and will “include Nassau Valley farmers with a new focus on indelible protagonist Kathy Ames.”
The novel depicts Cathy as the embodiment of evil – an extremely beautiful blonde who is acutely aware of the power she has over people. As a teenager, she burned down her family home and killed her parents; married the novel’s protagonist, Adam; became pregnant with her brother Charles and failed in an attempt to have an abortion; fled from her family shortly after giving birth to twins; when her husband tried to stop her, she shot him in the shoulder. She then changed her name to Kate and began working in a brothel, poisoning her mistress and taking over the brothel, turning it into a den of sexual abuse. Her story ultimately ends with her suicide.
It’s a crucial role that has been played by many great actors in the past: Jo Van Fleet is best known for playing Kathy in Elia Kazan’s 1955 film East of Eden, opposite James Dean, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, while Bond girl Jane Seymour won a Golden Globe for her sensitivity in the 1981 miniseries portrayal. But, in theory, this new retelling should give Cassie more space than ever before – and really flesh out her backstory and motivations in a way the books never did.
As we’ve come to expect from the streaming giant, the supporting cast is also stellar – Christopher Abbott plays Adam in Poor Things, Mike Fist plays Charles in Contenders, and Hoon As Lee, the Trask family’s Chinese-American servant, is played by Kathy Pugh and the behind-the-scenes team. Zoe Kazan, best known for her work in The Big Sick, The Plot Against America and She Said, co-produced “Wildlife” with her partner Paul Dano Wildlife is directed by Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal and stars Elia Kazan. Meanwhile, Garth Davis of “Lion” and Lord Clermont-Tonnel of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” will share directing duties, with Pugh signed on as executive producer.
“In bringing this family saga to life, the resonance of my own familial relationships with the material was never lost on me,” Kazan told Netflix in a statement. “But it was Steinbeck’s writing — personal, shocking, profound and liberating — that I’ve been drawn to ever since I first read East of Eden as a teenager.
So bring on the windswept landscapes and intricate costumes—and the inevitable Emmys.
