East of Eden’s California Is New Zealand

Netflix's Steinbeck series turned Ōamaru's Victorian streets and a Devonport road into early 1900s California. Here is what the official record confirms.

By Jessie Isberg October 27, 2026 4 min read

Photo: Netflix

Trailer: East of Eden. Cast, where to watch and more on the title page.

John Steinbeck set East of Eden in California’s Salinas Valley. Netflix made it in Aotearoa. The seven-episode limited series, written by Zoe Kazan and starring Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, was “filmed extensively across New Zealand”, according to the New Zealand Film Commission, and it was Netflix’s No. 2 English-language series worldwide in the week of 12 to 18 October, with 6.2 million views.

Netflix has not published a location list. Local councils and screen offices have, and between them they confirm three places: Ōamaru, Central Otago and the Auckland suburb of Cheltenham, in Devonport.

The series

Kazan adapted the 1952 novel and is co-showrunner with Jeb Stuart. Garth Davis directed episodes one to four and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre episodes five to seven. Christopher Abbott plays Adam Trask, Mike Faist is Charles Trask, Hoon Lee is Lee, Tracy Letts is Cyrus Trask, Martha Plimpton is Faye and Ciarán Hinds is Samuel Hamilton, with Joseph Zada and Joe Anders as the twins Cal and Aron. Netflix Studios, Fifth Season and Anonymous Content produced, the Film Commission says. All seven episodes arrived on Netflix on 1 October.

Ōamaru, North Otago

Ōamaru is the location the official record leans on hardest. The Waitaki District Council says the town’s streets were transformed into 1900s California for the series, with filming in January 2025 after location scouts visited several times over more than a year. Props and costumes arrived by December 2024. The council’s own photo caption places the production on Harbour Street, at the heart of the Victorian heritage precinct, and local residents worked as extras.

“The crew were amazed by the precinct,” Jacob Barwick, property manager of the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, told the council. “They told us there was nowhere else in the world quite like it.”

Traces remain. The council says a wardrobe from the series’ murder scene and one planter box are still in the precinct, and prop bottles are on display in the building that now houses the Victorian Wardrobe, once home to Lane’s Emulsion tonic. Barwick says the Trust is developing a precinct map showing where key scenes were filmed, which should make a self-guided walk straightforward.

“This is a proud moment for the town and another opportunity to showcase Ōamaru as a distinctive, film-friendly destination,” council chief executive Alex Parmley said.

Central Otago

Screen Auckland says the production filmed in Central Otago as well as Ōamaru before moving north. It does not say which sites, and no council or regional film office has named them, so treat any specific vineyard or valley you see attached to the show online as unconfirmed.

Cheltenham, Devonport, Auckland

The Auckland leg ran four days in late February 2025, under the working title Timshel, with up to 200 cast and crew on set, according to Screen Auckland. Part of Cheltenham Road and nearby streets were covered in gravel and dressed with vintage cars and horses to resemble the Salinas Valley in the early 20th century. A 1906 villa on Cheltenham Road was painted yellow for filming and then returned to its original colour, with the production paying for the landscaping and repainting.

“I can’t complain,” the villa’s owner, John O’Toole, told Screen Auckland, “we’re getting our house repainted for nothing.” The production thanked residents with a wrap event at McHugh’s of Cheltenham.

Dunedin

Dunedin has been widely linked to the series in news coverage. None of the official sources checked for this guide names it, so it is not listed as a confirmed location here.

Visiting

Ōamaru is the easiest pilgrimage: the heritage precinct is compact and walkable, and the Civic Trust’s scene map is on the way. Cheltenham is a quiet residential street near the beach, so look from the footpath and respect the homes. Central Otago will have to wait until someone official names the spots.