Florence Pugh’s Netflix Western Miniseries Officially Hits a Massive Streaming Milestone

Florence Pugh is a woman who knows her potatoes, whether they be big or small. Her career choices have been almost flawless to date, and she can steal scenes in a tiny, supporting role like in Oppenheimer, but she can also utterly dominate a prestige television series that brings one of America’s most famous novels back to the screen.

East of Eden has officially passed 1 billion minutes watched in the United States, earning an enormous 1.162 billion viewing minutes during the week of October 5–11, according to Nielsen. The seven-part Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck‘s classic novel finished No. 3 on the overall streaming chart, behind Prime Video’s Carrie and Netflix’s Below.

The series takes place over a number of decades in the lives of Cathy (Pugh) and the Trask family, while it’s bookended by the American Civil War and World War I. Over the years, the paths of the Trask family intersect with people like Samuel Hamilton, an Irishman who made his way to California where he raised a family and got to know the land. They also encounter Lee, a Chinese American, whose heart is as big as his intellect, and Faye, a brothel owner who may be her own worst enemy.

• The first film not in the English language to win Best Picture, in the Academy’s
  92-year history to that point.
• It took four Oscars in one night: Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and International
  Feature.
• It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2019 by a unanimous jury vote, the first Korean film
  to do so.
• The Park family’s modernist house was not a location. It was built from scratch on an
  outdoor lot.

• Seven Oscars, including three acting wins for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee
  Curtis.
• Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress.
• The visual effects were handled by a team of fewer than ten people, most of them
  self-taught.
• Ke Huy Quan had all but left acting for two decades before this role brought him back.

• Seven Oscars, including Nolan’s first wins for directing and for Best Picture.
• Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. both took their first Academy Awards for it.
• Kodak engineered a black-and-white 65mm stock that did not previously exist so Nolan could
  shoot those sequences on IMAX.
• A three-hour, R-rated drama about theoretical physics that passed 950 million dollars
  worldwide.

• Four Oscars, among them Best Picture and Best Director for Iñárritu.
• Emmanuel Lubezki’s win here was the middle of three consecutive cinematography Oscars,
  after Gravity and before The Revenant.
• Antonio Sánchez’s improvised drum score was ruled ineligible for the score category,
  which caused a minor uproar.
• The long-take illusion was built from a handful of extended shots joined by hidden cuts.

• Four Oscars: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem.
• Adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, with much of his dialogue carried over
  intact.
• Carter Burwell’s score runs about sixteen minutes and is nearly inaudible by design.
• Roger Deakins was nominated twice that year, for this and The Assassination of Jesse James,
  and won for neither.

Who’s Involved in ‘East of Eden’?

Pugh stars alongside Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) as Adam Trask, Mike Faist (Challengers) as Charles Trask, Hoon Lee (Banshee) as Lee, Tracy Letts (Ford v Ferrari) as Cyrus Trask, Martha Plimpton (The Goonies) as Faye, Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones) as Samuel Hamilton, Joseph Zada (We Were Liars) as Cal Trask, and Joe Anders (Bonus Track) as Aron Trask.

East of Eden has received plenty of praise from critics, particularly for Pugh’s performance and the ambition of Zoe Kazan‘s adaptation. Unlike the famous 1955 movie, which focused on the later chapters of Steinbeck’s novel, the Netflix series gives Cathy a much bigger role and more time to explore her complicated story. Nick Hilton of The Independent described it as “a lush, thoughtful new Netflix mini-series,” while The Guardian called it “brilliant, compelling entertainment,” highlighting the performances and impressive production. Collider’s Therese Lacson was similarly impressed, praising Kazan for creating “a faithful adaptation that still takes risks.”

East of Eden is streaming now exclusively on Netflix, with all seven episodes available.

East of Eden