Lee Sung Jin Talks About the Real-Life Inspiration Behind Season 2 of ‘Beef’: How Class Shapes Our Connections
Beef Season 2 addresses themes such as healthcare inequity, class dynamics, and diaspora identity, with many storylines inspired by real-life events, according to creator Lee Sung Jin.
Originally intended as a limited series, Beef has evolved into an anthology that explores the romantic struggles of three generations of partners from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The season features characters Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) and Josh (Oscar Isaac), and Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung) with Dr. Kim (Song Kang-ho).
In a recent interview with People, Lee revealed he draws inspiration from personal experiences. He recounted a particular moment when he overheard a heated debate between a couple, leading to vastly different reactions from viewers. “Younger people reacted like Ashley and Austin. Whereas my similarly-aged or older peers were like, ‘It’s a fight. I mean, who among us [hasn’t fought]?’” he noted.
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Aiming to depict “younger love versus older love in 2026,” Lee emphasized the importance of addressing class issues in this season, stating, “It’s not getting better; it’s getting worse.”
Class differences take center stage when Ashley faces a medical emergency complicated by her lack of health insurance and a lengthy wait time. This scenario reflects a personal experience Lee had, during which he spent over 10 hours in the emergency room with his wife.
“I literally just wrote down in my notes app everything that happened, dialogue I overheard, and pretty much copied and pasted it and wrote it in a day,” Lee explained. “So that episode is not an exaggeration. That is the state of our health industry at the moment.”
Recently, Lee renewed his overall deal with Netflix and expressed a desire for a future where social issues are not so pressing. “We’re just responding to real life. I’d love to get to a point where society isn’t what it is, so we can write about something other than class. But until then, we’ll just keep trying to shout it from the mountaintops,” he said.
Setting the season in the affluent Santa Barbara community of Montecito, Lee noted that a chance house-sitting opportunity provided insights into class disparities. “While I was there, I noticed that every member was either a Silent Gen or a Boomer, whereas the employees were Gen Z or Millennial,” he remarked. “No matter how hard those employees work, they’re never going to get to be members, which I think is an interesting metaphor or microcosm for where we’re at societally. So we took that metaphor and ran with it.”
Beef Season 2 is currently streaming.
