East Of Eden Creator Defends ‘Difficult’ Decision To Cut Major Book Storyline

East Of Eden creator Zoe Kazan has opened up about some of the brutal decisions she had to make when putting together the Netflix miniseries.

Zoe’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic American novel premiered on Netflix earlier this week, and was met with an immediate wave of critical acclaim.

However, to condense the generation-spanning original story down to just seven episodes, some cuts had to be made – including most of the story surrounding the Hamilton family.

Speaking to The Independent, the writer and showrunner admitted that this cull wasn’t always easy on her.

Zoe said: “The incredible thing about this book is there’s so much treasure in it that you couldn’t possibly put it all into seven hours.

“There are things I had to leave behind that hurt my heart – there’s so much of the Hamiltons’ storyline that’s not in there, and the Hamiltons are some of my favourite characters in the book.”

Last month, Zoe revealed to Time that she’d written eight episodes of East Of Eden, which Netflix requested she narrow down to seven.

“It was the obvious stuff that had to go, partially because it’s off the main track of the story, but also because it’s all new locations,” she said, pointing out that reducing the story shaved “a third” off the show’s budget.

She added: “I was so sad to lose that episode, but I do think it’s stronger for it.”

Zoe already has a personal connection to the source material, as her grandfather Elia Kazan directed the most famous screen adaptation of the novel in the 1950s.

Her version of the story shifts the focus to being about antiheroine Cathy Ames, played in the Netflix show by Oscar nominee Florence Pugh.

Florence leads an impressive cast that also includes Girls star Christopher Abbott and Challengers’ Mike Faist.