Netflix has a big new show out with a high Rotten Tomatoes score, but more importantly, it stars Florence Pugh.
GEOFFREY SHORT/NETFLIX
Netflix has just released a long-anticipated new miniseries featuring a bunch of Hollywood stars, and now reviews are in so we can see if it was worth all that investment. According to its Rotten Tomatoes critic score, it seems like it was.
East of Eden is live today on Netflix, a seven-episode series adapting John Steinbeck’s famous novel. While its score has fluctuated a bit, it currently stands at a solid 89% Rotten Tomatoes score with over two dozen reviews in. That’s two points above the 1955 film starring none other than James Dean. Amazingly, Netflix’s East of Eden is directed by Zoe Kazan, the granddaughter of Elia Kazan, director of the 1995 original.
East of Eden is led by Florence Pugh, who plays Cathy Ames. Pugh is possibly the most in-demand actress in Hollywood right now. She will star in Dune Part 3 later while having a lead role in Avengers: Doomsday, with both huge blockbusters released on the same weekend, coining the term “Dunesday.” She appeared in Best Picture winner Oppenheimer and most recently in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the $2.5 billion dollar-earning film, because Tom Holland said specifically that he wanted to work with her.
Pugh is joined by Challengers’ Mike Faist, who previously broke out in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Additionally, the film stars Christopher Abbott, where it was just announced that he would be playing the all-important role of Professor X in the MCU’s X-Men movies going forward.
This is the highest-profile TV show that Florence Pugh has ever led, making it a significant project for her. Her last outing in the genre in a meaningful capacity was in 2018 in The Little Drummer Girl, arguably before she really broke out in Hollywood. A year later, she received an Oscar nomination for Little Women.
What are critics saying about East of Eden? Here’s a sampling:
AV Club – “With East Of Eden, Kazan has built a towering new standard for what literary adaptations for TV could and should be. It takes some losses to get there, but by the end of the series, these characters all find the breathing room in the world they wanted.”
New York Post – “East of Eden is a show made for those who enjoy watching a villainous Florence Pugh surrounded by sad men.”
That one might be my favorite. It stands to reason that East of Eden is about to debut at No. 1 on Netflix’s top 10 list, given such high-profile stars. The real question is how long it will remain there, but either way, this is a win for Netflix, and definitely not something fans need to stress about, waiting for a season 2. I don’t think Steinbeck is writing a sequel any time soon.
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