Netflix reduced the Hamilton family's story in East of Eden because seven episodes did not leave enough room to develop both of John Steinbeck's major family narratives at the same depth. Writer and co-showrunner Zoe Kazan chose to sustain the Trasks' dramatic through-line and place Cathy Ames at the center. The Hamiltons, however, were not removed altogether: Samuel Hamilton remains in the series, and his relationship with Lee preserves a crucial part of the novel's exploration of choice and fate.
Spoiler warning: this comparison discusses character relationships, events from the novel, and moments from the 2026 miniseries, without retelling its ending.
What did the adaptation keep, and what moved into the background?
The 1952 novel interweaves the Trasks' lives with the Hamiltons', creating two family histories that illuminate each other. In the Netflix adaptation, available since October 1, 2026, the second thread does not vanish, but it no longer receives a comparable story of its own. The key differences are:
| Element | In the novel | In the miniseries |
|---|---|---|
| The Hamilton family | Samuel, Liza, and their nine children make up a sprawling parallel narrative. | Much of the family's individual storylines are compressed or left out. |
| Samuel Hamilton | A neighbor, adviser, and counterpoint to Adam Trask's isolation. | Played by Ciarán Hinds, he retains his friendship with Adam and Lee and influences their choices. |
| Lee | Caregiver to Adam's sons and a key participant in debates about moral freedom. | Played by Hoon Lee, he remains essential to the twins and to conversations with Samuel. |
| Cathy and the Trasks | One of the novel's central threads, in dialogue with the Hamilton story. | They become the dominant narrative focus, with Florence Pugh as Cathy. |
Why are the Hamiltons so important in Steinbeck's book?
The Hamiltons do more than support the Trask storyline. Modeled on Steinbeck's maternal ancestors, Samuel, Liza, and their nine children form a large household shaped by work, affection, financial hardship, and experiences of their own. Their story allows the novel to question what prosperity means: acquiring wealth does not necessarily build relationships or bring peace of mind.
Where the Trasks concentrate conflicts of inheritance, guilt, and sibling rivalry, the Hamiltons offer a view of immigrant community life in the Salinas Valley. The book also follows the children's separate fates, including painful developments involving Una and Tom. Reducing these stories removes some of the novel's autobiographical and social breadth, not merely a collection of incidents.
Why did Kazan sacrifice those arcs within seven episodes?
In interviews with the Los Angeles Times and The Independent, Kazan made clear that she loved the Hamiltons and regretted leaving so much out. She told the former that she would have needed roughly three additional episodes to tell the family's story with the space it deserved. Esquire, citing Kazan's remarks to Variety, added another reason: the Hamilton material is emotionally meaningful but more episodic in shape, while the Trask plot offers a more continuous dramatic progression for television.
That is an explanation about format and narrative priorities, not a claim that the Hamiltons mattered less to Steinbeck. The series had to span generations in seven installments. By putting Cathy Ames at its center, it gained a character who connects the conflicts of Adam, Charles, Cal, and Aron. Kazan has also explained that the new emphasis on Cathy partly responds to the smaller role she had in the 1955 film directed by the writer's grandfather, Elia Kazan.
What does Samuel Hamilton still do in the show?
Samuel is not just a name included as a nod to readers. In the adaptation, he is an Irish immigrant who drills wells, knows the land, and grows close to Adam and Lee. Netflix's own cast guide describes that friendship as transformative for all three. Ciarán Hinds plays Samuel, preserving his role as an adviser without extending the individual stories of Liza and their children.
Samuel also helps connect two major ideas in the novel: the practical realities of life in the valley and the possibility of acting differently from the previous generation. His screen time is reduced, but Kazan herself has acknowledged his thematic importance. Saying Netflix removed 'the entire Hamilton family' would therefore be inaccurate.
And Lee? Why is he still essential?
Lee is not a Hamilton. He works in the Trask household, helps raise Cal and Aron, and builds an intellectual friendship with Samuel. Played by Hoon Lee, he retains both the work of caring for the family and the story's questions about identity. In the novel and the series, he also navigates racial prejudice, including expectations that he conceal his education and intelligence in certain company.
One production change should not be confused with the reduction of the Hamiltons: Kazan initially wrote eight episodes, including a standalone chapter about Lee's trip to San Francisco and his ambition to open a bookstore. According to her Los Angeles Times interview, that episode was not made for budgetary reasons. The three extra episodes she estimated would have been needed for the Hamiltons are a separate hypothetical expansion, not three officially commissioned or canceled installments.
How do Samuel and Lee preserve the discussion of 'timshel'?
The idea of timshel, which the characters consider through the biblical account of Cain and Abel, is where the novel brings philosophical inquiry into its family conflicts. Lee understands the word as allowing a choice rather than an inescapable moral destiny. In the book, the conversation involves Lee, Samuel, and Adam; for television, Kazan sought to dramatize the question without turning it into an extended abstract explanation.
Kazan told the Los Angeles Times about repeatedly revising the discussion of Cain and Abel in Episode 3 and the exchange about timshel in Episode 5. Netflix's official explanation likewise identifies Samuel as Lee's conversation partner in exploring the idea. The philosophical core therefore survives even though the show does not rebuild the Hamilton family tree in full.
What does this change gain, and what does it lose?
The choice creates a clearer thread connecting Cathy to the conflicts of two Trask generations, allowing viewers to follow one chain of consequences across seven episodes. In return, the series gives up much of the contrast between families that lets the novel examine labor, wealth, community, and memory. This is an interpretation of structural differences, not a claim that the adaptation replaces the novel's meaning.
The 1955 film, meanwhile, focused on the late section involving Cal and Aron and omitted Lee. The miniseries restores more of the novel's chronology and retains him, but makes its own choices about what to dramatize. Samuel and Lee remain important links, while the Hamilton family moves from a parallel storyline to a concentrated presence around the Trasks.
