Netflix’s “East of Eden,” starring Florence Pugh and adapted by Zoe Kazan from John Steinbeck’s classic American novel, attracted 1.1 million viewers in the U.K. during its first seven days, according to audience data from BARB, the country’s television measurement body.
The seven-episode limited series debuted globally on Netflix on Oct. 1, but its initial U.K. performance fell short of several recent high-profile dramas on the streaming service, including “House of Guinness” and “The Gentlemen.” The figures, reported by U.K. trade publication Broadcast and sourced from overnight.tv, measure British viewing and should not be interpreted as an indication of the show’s performance in the U.S. or other international markets.
“East of Eden” follows the Trask family across generations in California’s Salinas Valley, exploring sibling rivalry, inherited trauma and the struggle between good and evil. Pugh plays Cathy Ames, the novel’s morally complex antihero, whose relationships with Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott) and Charles Trask (Mike Faist) help drive the family saga.
The series also stars Hoon Lee, Tracy Letts, Martha Plimpton, Ciarán Hinds, Joseph Zada and Joe Anders. Kazan, whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film adaptation starring James Dean, wrote and executive produced the new version, working alongside co-showrunner Jeb Stuart. Garth Davis directed the first four episodes, with Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre directing the final three.
Netflix’s U.K. audience figures show that the opening episode attracted the largest audience, with 1.1 million viewers. The second episode drew 723,000, while the third reached 553,000. The seventh episode recorded 316,000 viewers during its first week of availability, suggesting a substantial decline in episode-by-episode reach.
The launch episode ranked fourth among individual episodes across the platforms measured by BARB during the reporting period. It trailed the reality competition “The Celebrity Traitors,” as well as episodes of ITV’s crime drama “Winter” and Netflix’s documentary “The Widower: ’Til Death Do Us Part.”
Among U.K. viewers, the series skewed older. Some 273,000 viewers aged 65 and above watched the first episode, accounting for approximately 24% of its audience. A further 242,000 viewers aged 55–64 represented about 22%.
The opening-week total was below the 2.3 million viewers recorded for “House of Guinness” and the 2.5 million for the second season of “The Gentlemen,” according to the same U.K. measurement data. However, “East of Eden” outperformed Netflix’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” which attracted 138,000 U.K. viewers in its first week in December 2024. It also narrowly exceeded Disney+’s “A Thousand Blows,” which recorded 990,000 viewers during its opening week in February 2025.
The figures offer an early indication of the series’ reach in one major market, although they do not capture its overall global streaming performance. Netflix has not published comparable U.S. audience totals in the BARB format.
The adaptation has also generated discussion over its treatment of Cathy, a character often interpreted as an embodiment of innate evil in Steinbeck’s 1952 novel. Kazan’s version gives her a more developed psychological history, a creative choice that has divided some viewers but attracted critical interest. Reviews from TheWrap and RogerEbert.com have highlighted Pugh’s performance and the series’ attempt to bring greater depth to the character.
For Netflix, the series represents another high-profile literary adaptation built around an established American property and an internationally recognized star. Whether the drama ultimately becomes a global streaming success will depend on viewing beyond its opening week and on markets that cannot be measured through U.K. television ratings alone.