Zoe Kazan, Colin Kaepernick and Padma Lakshmi Getty Images The 2026 Atlantic Festival has added a first look at Zoe Kazan‘s East of Eden Netflix limited series and talks with Colin Kaepernick and Padma Lakshmi, The Hollywood Reporter can reveal exclusively.
The East of Eden preview, a modern interpretation of John Steinbeck’s novel, exploring the multigenerational Trask family and focusing new attention on antihero Cathy Ames, will be followed by a talk with co-showrunner, writer and executive producer Kazan, star and executive producer Florence Pugh and Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria.
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Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is set to be interviewed by Jemele Hill about his upcoming memoir The Perilous Fight. The festival will also host a talk with Padma Lakshmi about the future of creative work as well as conversations with Richard Linklater, Ben McKenzie and Malcolm Gladwell.
Additionally, New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg and PBS News Hour co-anchor Amna Nawaz will have a discussion about press freedom. And the event will host at least two new political talks with Senator Mark Kelly, in conversation with Atlantic writer Mark Leibovich, and former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who’s set to be interviewed by MS NOW anchor Stephanie Ruhle.
These new speakers join previously announced speakers like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, former Chicago Mayor and Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, George W. Bush advisers Andrew Card and Karl Rove, Odyssey translator Emily Wilson and The New York Times‘ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. The festival will also screen upcoming PBS docuseries Crime and Punishment, exploring the 250-year history of the U.S.’ criminal legal system, and Josh Greenbaum’s presidential parody documentary Playing POTUS and on opening night present A Soundtrack of a Nation, a collaboration between Julliard, composer Nicholas Britell, tap dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance and the bass-baritone Davóne Tine.
The 2026 Atlantic Festival is set to run from Sept. 17-19 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) in New York. More information about this year’s festival is available here.
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