Fans of John Steinbeck and Florence Pugh had a good weekend: Netflix's new miniseries adaptation of "East of Eden" dropped on Oct. 1 and rapidly climbed the charts to become the streaming service's top TV show worldwide.
Created and written by Zoe Kazan — whose grandfather Elia directed the famed 1955 film version starring James Dean — the sweeping seven-part drama tells the story of brothers Adam and Charles Trask (played by Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist, respectively) and Cathy Ames (Pugh), the woman who gets between them, across multiple generations from the post-Civil War era to World War I.
It's a hit with fans and press alike; the series has an 86% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 82% audience score. And if it's more period dramas, family sagas and literary adaptations you're after now that you've finished Netflix's "East of Eden," here are three great series to start up next.
'House of Guinness'
Created by "Peaky Blinders" progenitor Steven Knight, this historical drama centers on the Guinness family (yes, that Guinness) in 19th-century Dublin and New York. Following the death of brewery mogul Sir Benjamin Guinness, his four adult children — Arthur (Anthony Boyle), Edward (Louis Partridge), Anne (Emily Fairn) and Ben (Fionn O'Shea) — are forced to work together to maintain their family's legacy as one of the country’s most successful business dynasties.
If you want "Succession"-level power struggles but with grittily immersive and high-level production design, period costuming and lavish real-world settings across eight episodes, "House of Guinness" is the family drama for you. And with a second season in the works at Netflix, there's no better time to catch up with the Guinnesses.
Stream "House of Guinness" on Netflix now
'War and Peace'
Adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s eponymous 1869 novel, this British epic from director Tim Harper and screenwriter Andrew Davies packs in 1,200 pages' worth of aristocratic Russian drama into six tidy, fast-paced episodes. Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, the BBC adaptation centers on three young aristocrats—Pierre Bezukhov (Paul Dano), Natasha Rostova (Lily James), and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky (James Norton)—as their emotional lives and high-society romances collide with the brutal chaos of war.
The 2016 series was widely praised by critics, with The Telegraph ranking it fifth in its list of the greatest television adaptations of all time: "[I]t is safe to say that this is the greatest TV costume drama of the past decade and has raised the bar in a genre for which we are already renowned all over the world."
Stream "War and Peace" on the Roku Channel now
'The Buccaneers'
The calculated and ambitious Cathy Ames of Steinbeck's "East of Eden" might just fit in well with the enterprising ladies that make up "The Buccaneers," which wrapped up filming for its upcoming third season. Adapted by creator Katherine Jakeways from the unfinished novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, the Apple TV show revolves around a group of young American women (played by Kristine Frøseth, Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Aubri Ibrag and Imogen Waterhouse) who descend upon London high society to secure suitable husbands and English titles, all while shaking up old, tired traditions.
Speaking of, unlike more faithful historical dramas, "The Buccaneers" leans into the youthful pluck of its subjects with contemporary pop music, creative costuming and campy humor.
Stream "The Buccaneers" on Apple TV now
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