LOS ANGELES, Calif. – From season one’s road rage clash that escalated into a full-on urban war, “Beef” season two goes inside a posh country club and reveals simmering Gen Z-Millennial generation conflicts behind its manicured lawns.
Despite the show being a sensation that won 8 Emmy Awards and 3 Golden Globe Awards, and raves for Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, Netflix didn’t exactly rush to ask for more, according to Lee Sung Jin, the creator, showrunner and executive producer of “Beef.”
Television’s new wunderkind, Sung Jin, often called by his nickname Sonny, admitted, “I initially was just throwing everything at the Netflix wall. It was during the awards season for season one, and we still hadn’t gotten a season two pickup.”
Sonny, looking much younger than his 44 years, quipped with a laugh, “I was like, ‘Well, jeez, what’s it gonna take?’”
The Seoul-born showrunner added, “And Jinny Howe at Netflix wisely pulled me aside and said, ‘You really don’t have to do a season two of ‘Beef.’ Like, it’s a limited (series). You punctuated the end of the season. We can talk about a different show, but you should not do a season two unless you’re really passionate about it.’”
Couple’s heated debate sparks second season
As in the road rage in real life that fueled his season one plot, a couple’s quarrel that Sonny overheard in his neighborhood sparked his idea for a follow-up. “Beef” was a one-off limited series, but Netflix loved Sonny’s story idea. The streamer greenlit the show’s transformation into an anthology series, with a different story and characters each season.
“The universe slapped me in the face with a real-life incident that made the creative energies start flowing,” said the boyish-looking, often smiling Sonny. “And it was in my neighborhood. I’ll speak vaguely since I still live in that neighborhood.
“I had overheard a heated debate coming from a couple’s home. And the incident itself wasn’t that interesting, but it was everyone’s reactions to it when I retold the story to my younger Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) peers. They were all kind of aghast, clutching their pearls, being like, ‘Did you call 911?’ Like, ‘Is everyone okay?’
“Whereas my millennial (born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) peers were like, ‘Eh, big deal (laughs).’ I thought that juxtaposition was very interesting. And once we had that, then we started trying to somehow convince these A-List talents to do my little show.”
The couple’s intense squabble that Sonny overheard resulted in a “little show,” an engrossing 8-episode sophomore season that’s not a mere rehash of the first season.
Synopsis, cast
To avoid spoilers, I will just share Netflix’s synopsis of the new season that launched April 16: “A Gen Z couple witnesses an alarming fight between their Millennial boss and his wife. Newly-engaged Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin Davis (Charles Melton), both lower-level staff at a country club, become entangled in the unraveling marriage of their General Manager, Joshua Martín (Oscar Isaac), and his wife, Lindsay Crane-Martín (Carey Mulligan).
“Through favors and coercion, both couples vie for the approval of the elitist club’s billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), who struggles to manage her own scandal involving her second husband, Doctor Kim (Song Kang-ho).”
The story also taps Seoyeon Jang (Eunice), William Fichtner (Troy), Mikaela Hoover (Ava), and Matthew Kim, also known as BM (Woosh).
Wish-fulfillment beef vs passive-aggressive beef
This time, instead of overt aggression, tensions simmer under the surface in the country club and the homes of the four protagonists. Sonny explained, “For season one, it was born out of wish fulfillment a little bit because in the real-life road rage incident that happened to me, obviously, I didn’t go through with all the things Danny (Steven Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong) did, or else I wouldn’t be here.
“And I think there was a little bit of just trying to explore things that we normally don’t get to do in real life through season one,” Sonny added. The quotes used in this column were from two Los Angeles press conferences I covered – one with Sonny only and the other with him and his actors, Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, and Charles Melton.
“But in season two, I wanted to make it more true to life. I’m sure for some of us, when we think about our personal beef at the workplace, especially, it’s a passive-aggressive beef, for sure. You don’t want to get fired, all sorts of things. And so I really wanted to lean into the subtle ways that we dig at each other, the little offhanded comments from your boss.
“That also made it a little bit more fun and refreshing to write because I’d been in this overt beef for so long as we did season one. So it was really a treat with the writers.”
Creator meets with main cast
Sonny’s long Zoom conversations with the principal cast members also inspired the script. The creator, whose writing credits (some under the name Sonny Lee) include “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “2 Broke Girls,” explained, “With the actors, so much of beef is borne from our conversations and observations in real life, examining our lives and thinking like, oh, what slight this week did I feel aggrieved about? And then we try to express it through these two couples.
“It’s like a showrunner’s dream,” Sonny said of his cast. “I tend to write characters once I know who I’m writing for. It’s really hard for me to write in a vacuum. And so Netflix generously afforded me some time to take some meetings.
“They asked me who’s on my bucket list and who I thought would fit these characters really well. Charles Melton was one of the first people I reached out to. I saw his performance in ‘May December,’ and I was just absolutely blown away.
“And Oscar, Carey, Cailee, I have just been a fan of their work, and it took a couple of three-hour Zooms. But as we got to know each other and we built that trust, they’re very excited to explore these themes.”
‘Parasite’ star Song Kang-ho
The Emmy-winning writer and director gushed about casting Song Kang-ho, who was the patriarch in the acclaimed “Parasite”: “That is truly my childhood dream realized because Song Kang-ho is in every favorite movie of mine. ‘Memories of Murder’ is in the top three for me. Obviously, ‘Parasite.’
“And fortunately, from the success of season one, I was able to get to know Youn Yuh-jung and Song Ho. Steven Yeun, having worked with Youn Yuh-jung, that was the initial introduction. I just knew that Korea had to be a part of this season, and I was just taking a moonshot.
“I’m like, if there’s any way to get Youn Yuh-jung and Song Ho in here. And a funny anecdote that actually I think Youn Yuh-jung has shared publicly, so I can share as well now is Song Ho initially said no.
“After he read the scripts, he was like, I don’t think I know how to play this character. So we were ready to move on because once someone says no, who am I to challenge Song Ho?
“But Youn Yuh-jung called him, and she was like, ‘Hey, you’re Song Ho. You can do anything. What are you talking about? You’re doing this.’ And then he was like, ‘Okay, I’ll try my best for you.’
“But then once we got into it and had rehearsals, he felt very comfortable. I think he was just in that initial scene. He didn’t see the full character. And once he saw the full character, he got very excited.”
Why ’Beef’ Season 2 is set in a country club
With a sly grin, Sonny explained why he set “Beef” 2 in a country club in Montecito, the affluent enclave in Southern California where Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have homes. “A good friend of mine, whom I actually met while I was temping, recently came into some money selling this tech company for like $4 billion.
“So he has his place in Montecito, and I was house-sitting for him. He let me use his Montecito Club membership. When I heard how much it cost, I kind of turned my nose up, being like, that’s crazy, dude, you’re wasting so much money.
“And then you use it for a week, and you’re like, it’s kind of nice. Wow, how much was that? And that hedonic adaptation that we humans have, that felt like a very appropriate theme. Then, as I spent time at Montecito Club, what I observed was that most of the members were Silent Gen and Boomers, and most of the employees were Millennials and Gen Z.
“And I found that to be a great microcosm for society because no matter how hard those employees work, they’re never gonna become members. As Austin says in the show, ‘Everyone grabbed the bag before we could,’ which is a sentiment that is growing more potent by the day due to leaders continually stripping away the checks and balances that used to be in place for capitalism. So, once we had that metaphor, we ran with it.
“Then, as I started to visit country clubs more, it just felt like such an interesting aesthetic that ran counter to season one. Season one felt so grungy, a little messy. Even the soundtrack was 90s grunge.”
’You can’t write anything true in 2026 without tackling class’
Sonny’s economics degree, from the University of Pennsylvania, is reflected in his remarks. “You can’t write anything true in 2026 without tackling the variable of class. It’s just something that permeates every interaction, unfortunately, and it’s not like it’s getting better. So you have to, if you’re putting your brain into these characters’ minds and trying to wonder what they do, I think money is a huge factor.
“When you explore this theme of love over time in the modern era, it’s really hard to even talk about anything without acknowledging class as late-stage capitalism. As Austin says, really we’re hitting later and later stages.
“The income inequality grows, and it just starts to affect every single decision and interaction in your life. And you look at the statistics, and it’s getting harder and harder for people to own a home and even start a family. The American dream is evaporating, so it felt very important for the writers and us, if we’re going to tackle love over time, you have to also tackle class.”
Oscar Isaac
Oscar Isaac, coming off his widely praised performance in “Frankenstein,” weighed in on Sonny’s keen observations of life and dynamics that find their way into his topical scripts. “We just mostly started talking about our lives,” he said about his input on his character.
“And already from watching season one, I saw that episode three, when Steven Yeun’s character goes to the Evangelical church and starts crying, they’re playing the music, and it’s both hilarious and also deeply unsettling and emotional. I felt like, does this guy know my life? I don’t understand.
“Because, as an immigrant and now being part of the Evangelical community, and then the Incubus song at the end, and all of that, I was like, this guy kinda knows me.
“I’ve never had that combination of somebody who has so much information available and thought, and at the same time, so much flexibility with new information coming in, and how that shifts and changes it.”
The Guatemala-born and U.S.-raised actor continued, “He (Josh) wasn’t written as a Latino character. Lindsay (Carey’s character) wasn’t written English. We found our ways into that and found a way to make the mask of what I would wear for Josh be more transparent.”
Scenes in South Korea
The story moves to South Korea at some point in the season. “For me, the Korea piece was really important from the get,” Sonny stressed. “Between seasons, I had the opportunity to direct a music video for RM in Korea. It was my first time shooting there, and I hadn’t been back in a long time.
“I became the character of Austin, being kind of wined and dined by this upper echelon of Korean society that I’ve never experienced before. I was like, oh man, my epigenetics are getting triggered, and it was such a different experience than I think what American corporations are like.
“And I knew that, kind of showcasing a Korean chaebol or CEO (Youn Yuh-jung) and how they move felt important. But without spoilers, at the time I was worried that it would be broad, some of the moves that she does this season of covering up something that her second husband (Song Kang-ho) did.”
With a laugh, he remarked, “And as we’ve seen in the news the last few months, it’s not broad at all. So, we’re just constantly observing, remaining open, and trying to put that into the show. And until our leaders get their shit together, we’ll just keep screaming these messages from the mountaintops.”
Charles Melton
Charles Melton, like Sonny, lived for a time in South Korea. When I asked Charles, born in Alaska to an immigrant Korean mother and an American father, if people often correctly guess his heritage, he answered, “It’s funny. In episode three, when Eunice, Austin, and Ashley are at the Chinese Bamboo House, Austin’s line goes, ‘Everyone thought I was Mexican.’ That was a personal sentiment that I shared with Sonny, which he incorporated into the beautiful kind of soup of ‘Beef.’”
Sonny interjected with a laugh, “I thought he was. That’s why I cast him.”
Charles continued, “But I identify as Korean-American. What’s so amazing about this show, and Sonny, is that his artistry has no limitations and doesn’t limit art to just identity. But he touches on all these universal themes throughout the show.
“And for me, when we all went to Korea, it was like a big coming-home for me. I grew up in Korea for six years, and I really leaned into my Korean-ness, so to speak. My mannerisms, I guess you can say. It was really incredible.
“Then we see Austin kind of navigating. He talks about how he’s never been around this many Koreans before. Ashley refers to him as Arizonian, as opposed to Korean-American. I didn’t have that experience as Austin. But for him to meet his identity of both being Korean and American was thanks to Sonny. And the voice. And the space he gave me as Austin to just live in that.”
Samsara
Towards the end, Sonny and the cast were asked what themes in the show they hope would spark conversations.
Sonny began, “It’s just one word. It was very clear in the top shot. Hopefully, that ends the season. We were really trying to depict the concept of samsara, which is a spiritual concept, mostly seen in Buddhism and Hinduism, about this eternal cycle of life and death, love and suffering that we all seem to be trapped in together for whatever reason.
“Everyone grapples with that in different ways. So we were trying to leave something open to interpretation at the end, where you can reflect on that cycle of samsara and try to come to terms with it on your own. But it depends on where you’re at in your current life. But yeah, that was sort of the main thing for me.”
‘Beef’ creator Lee Sung Jin and USNewsRank’s Ruben V. Nepales | Photo from Netflix
Takeaways
Oscar said, “I’d say maybe being able to watch it and recognize some behavior (laughs), in these people, as awful as that might feel, and to have some kind of compassion for how humans behave in these kinds of situations.”
Charles, for his part, commented, “There are many things. But for me, I’m gonna be biased talking about Austin. I think there’s goodness in everyone. And there are crossroads in life, many times where you can either choose the right thing or the good thing for you.
“Sometimes it’s both the right thing and the good thing for you, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes there are external factors like the construct of capitalism, the need to have these external superficial things, and how does that coincide with love and relationships.”
Carey Mulligan dished with a laugh, “Charles’ tiny shorts probably would be my biggest takeaway. We’ll be talking about that for a while.”
Sonny, also laughing, chimed in, “The shorts were Charles’ idea, by the way. They were longer to begin with. And he said, ‘Paul Mescal, watch out.’”
More “Beef” is on your way. Netflix recently extended its multi-year deal with Sonny to develop, write and produce film and television projects.
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