John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel "East of Eden," a retelling of the biblical Cain and Abel story set in late 19th and early 20th century America, has been adapted into a seven-episode miniseries premiering Thursday on Netflix. The series, co-showrun by Zoe Kazan—granddaughter of director Elia Kazan, who helmed the 1955 film adaptation—and Jeb Stuart, offers a broader scope than the earlier movie by incorporating both halves of the novel’s parallel narratives, though it necessarily condenses much of the original text.

The story spans two generations of the Trask family, beginning on a Connecticut farm with half-brothers Charles and Adam Trask, and continuing in California’s Salinas Valley with Adam’s twin sons, Cal and Aron. Central to both narratives is Cathy Ames, portrayed by Florence Pugh, whose dark and complex character drives much of the plot. The series opens with a harrowing image of Cathy, a woman battered both physically and morally, crawling to the Trask family farm where Adam and Charles live. Early scenes establish Cathy’s violent past, including her role in a man’s suicide and a fire that claimed her parents’ lives, and her subsequent descent into prostitution.

The miniseries emphasizes themes of good and evil, jealousy, love, and the possibility of change, consistent with Steinbeck’s philosophical reflections woven throughout the novel. Through Cathy’s character, it explores the nature of conscience and normality, opening with an adapted version of Steinbeck’s thoughts on human difference. While the show maintains much of the novel’s narrative structure and key plot points, it also adapts internal monologues into dialogue and scenes to provide clearer character motivation.

Florence Pugh’s portrayal is a highlight, bringing nuance to Cathy’s inscrutable personality, a figure Steinbeck himself described as “unknowable.” Other notable performances include Mike Faist as the taciturn Charles, Christopher Abbott as Adam, and Hoon Lee as Lee, a philosophical American-born Chinese man who acts as a surrogate parent to Cal and Aron. Ciarán Hinds appears as Samuel Hamilton, a jovial Irish immigrant, while Martha Plimpton plays Faye, the madam under whom Cathy works later in the story.

The production was filmed in New Zealand, chosen for its resemblance to California’s Salinas Valley, though critics note the setting appears more bleak and muted than the lush, symbolic landscape found in the book. Directed by Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, the series features a somber tone underscored by a mournful score, which some suggest undercuts the vibrancy of Steinbeck’s narrative.

While struggling with the challenges inherent in adapting a multifaceted literary work, the miniseries succeeds in presenting the core conflicts of Steinbeck’s saga. The biblical allegory of Cain and Abel, so central to both the novel and the 1955 film version that launched James Dean’s career, is present but less pronounced here. Overall, the adaptation underscores the complexities of translating a celebrated and philosophically dense novel to the screen, balancing faithfulness to the source material with the necessities of episodic storytelling.