The East of Eden Trailer Is a Tribute to Florence Pugh

Netflix’s upcoming East of Eden adaptation wants the audience to know one thing and one thing only: Florence Pugh is in this show, and she is absolutely eating. That’s it! The upcoming miniseries adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1952 epic novel put out its first trailer today, and it is hyperfocused on Pugh as Cathy Ames. “When I was a little girl, I imagined I could grow smaller — so small that the bad things couldn’t find me, and I could disappear, because the world is so full of evil,” Pugh intones, set to swelling musical cues. “You are growing smaller and smaller, so small no door can keep you out and no door can close you in, so small you have almost disappeared. But you will not, Cathy, you will not disappear.” Now that is an opening monologue.

The teaser doesn’t give away much of the plot, but the best part is Pugh standing in a funeral wearing all-black furs and round black sunglasses. Not since Hong Chau held a black umbrella in Wuthering Heights has a person looked so good while mourning.

East of Eden follows the Trask family and its matriarch Cathy through generations. A retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, Cathy is both Eve and the snake and is typically seen as the story’s villainess. This new version, adapted by Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film version, will be a little different. “This fresh interpretation of Steinbeck’s masterpiece will explore the multigenerational saga of the Trask family, focusing new attention on its indelible antihero, Cathy Ames,” Netflix’s description reads. Pugh will be joined on the show by Christopher Abbott as her husband Adam, Mike Faist as Adam’s brother Charles, and Joseph Zada and Joe Anders as her sons Cal and Aron. It will premiere this fall on Netflix. See just how big Cathy can get.