Beef Creator Remains Hopeful for Season 2 Renewal at Netflix

Lee Sung Jin, the creator and showrunner of Netflix's Beef, shares what is in the cards for the series' future.

Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, premiered on Netflix this April to immense success among audiences and critics alike who are now all demanding Season 2 -- and now creator Lee Sung Jin has broken the silence on what the show's path looks like going forward.

Netflix's black comedy drama series, which follows two strangers, Amy Lau (Wong) and Danny Cho (Yeun), colliding in a road rage accident that gets a life of its own, has sparked a lot of interest among viewers upon its release. Beef has received critical acclaim, including 13 nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, so naturally, there has been talk of a potential Season 2. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sung Jin addressed this possibility from a rather positive angle.

The showrunner, whose creator debut took place in Beef, simply stated that he would "love to make more [episodes]." He revealed that the hit show was originally supposed to be "an anthology series" with every season focusing on "a new beef with new characters." However, Sung Jin admitted that he had gotten attached to the cast and the characters, so letting them all go in favor of new stories with new actors would not be an easy task. He added, "At the same time, I really love Danny and Amy and George and Paul [Young Mazino] and the world we created."

It's Still Too Early to Say for Sure What Happens Next With Beef

While the Beef creator remains "really open to it all" when it comes to the series' Season 2, he hopes to be able to continue working on the show with the crew that he has "really fallen in love with" over the course of making Season 1. Still, Sung Jin acknowledged that it was too early to be talking about any future seasons and the direction that the series could take because the WGA strike and the SAG-AFTRA strike were still happening. "But it's hard for me to say which direction we'll go without a writers room and any sort of momentum, so I'm really hoping the AMPTP comes to its senses," the showrunner explained.

Sung Jin then proceeded to discuss the heartwarming feedback he had gotten from the series' fans, namely the reactions from people who related with Beef on a much deeper and darker level because of their depression or other mental health issues. The creator elaborated, "The best reactions, whether I look on Reddit or the random DMs I get, are from people who are struggling with some sort of deep depression or a mental health thing that watch the show and say, 'Hey, I felt like the show was me and I feel less alone.' That's been really nice and it, in turn, has made me feel less alone because when you make something so transparent and vulnerable, you worry, 'Am I alone in this?' So, yeah, it's been very life-affirming in a lot of ways."