Florence Pugh Is Deliciously Dangerous in Netflix’s ‘East of Eden’ Trailer

Florence Pugh has played complicated characters before, but Netflix's East of Eden may be taking things to an entirely different level.

Netflix released the official trailer Wednesday for its seven-episode limited-series adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel, with Pugh taking center stage as Cathy Ames. And if you're expecting a sweeping period romance after watching the first few seconds, well... Cathy would probably like you to keep thinking that.

Created by Zoe Kazan, the new adaptation shifts particular attention toward Cathy, the infamous antihero whose arrival changes the lives of the Trask family across generations. Christopher Abbott stars as Adam Trask, while Mike Faist plays his brother Charles, and the trailer wastes very little time establishing that Cathy entering their lives is probably not going to end peacefully.

Florence Pugh's Cathy Ames Has Our Attention

The trailer opens with Cathy reflecting on the idea that monsters can be born looking perfectly ordinary, before questioning how easily evil can hide behind things like beauty and love. That's certainly one way to introduce your main character.

We then watch Cathy enter Adam and Charles' world, with Adam becoming increasingly drawn to her while Charles appears considerably less convinced that this mysterious woman is everything she claims to be. Marriage and family follow, but the increasingly dark imagery makes it clear that Netflix isn't selling us some lovely little period romance here.

Cathy is one of the most notorious characters in Steinbeck's novel, but Kazan's adaptation is interested in exploring her beyond simply presenting her as the villain of somebody else's story. The series puts her at the center of the multigenerational saga while exploring the choices that shape both individuals and families.

And Pugh looks more than ready for the assignment. There are moments in this trailer where Cathy barely has to change her expression for you to realize that somebody should probably start asking questions.

Adam, sir. Pay attention.

Netflix Is Going Bigger Than the Famous Movie

For many viewers, East of Eden is synonymous with the 1955 film starring James Dean. That adaptation, directed by Elia Kazan, focused primarily on the later portion of Steinbeck's sprawling novel.

The Netflix series has an especially interesting connection to that movie because Zoe Kazan is Elia Kazan's granddaughter. Rather than attempting to remake her grandfather's film, however, she's returning to Steinbeck's novel and taking on its much larger multigenerational story.

Kazan wrote and executive produced all seven episodes, with Jeb Stuart serving as co-showrunner. Garth Davis directed Episodes 1 through 4, while Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre directed the final three episodes.

That expanded format gives Netflix considerably more room to explore the Trask and Hamilton families, along with the themes of inherited trauma, good and evil, choice and identity running throughout Steinbeck's story.

Basically, don't go into this expecting a seven-hour version of the James Dean movie.

‘East of Eden’ Has Quite the Cast

Pugh, Abbott and Faist are joined by Hoon Lee as Lee, Tracy Letts as Cyrus Trask, Martha Plimpton as Faye and Ciarán Hinds as Samuel Hamilton. Joseph Zada and Joe Anders play Cal and Aron Trask, respectively, bringing the story into its next generation.

The series follows the interconnected Trask and Hamilton families in California's Salinas Valley, with Cathy's story serving as a major thread connecting generations. Netflix describes the adaptation as both an intimate family portrait and a look at a rapidly changing society in which its characters are repeatedly confronted with difficult choices.

But let's be real: Netflix knew exactly what it was doing with this trailer. You put Florence Pugh in period clothing, have her start talking about monsters and evil, show increasingly disturbing glimpses of what Cathy may be capable of and then tell us we've got seven episodes of this?

Yeah, we're watching.

East of Eden premieres globally October 1 on Netflix, with all seven episodes available at launch.