It looks like the popular drama series Beef is heading down the anthology route as a brand-new (and very impressive) cast comes together for its second season.
Netflix’s Beef, created by Lee Sung Jin, was one of last year’s breakout hits on the streaming platform. The ten episode drama featured Stephen Yeun and Ali Wong as its twin leads told a self-contained tale of two ordinary people that let an everyday moment of frustration boil up into something much darker and destructive.
Sung Jin is now putting together the casting for season two of the show, which looks like it will go down the anthology route and tell an entirely different story.
Given the critical acclaim that the first season was able to build up, it looks like Sung Jin is going to be able to call on some pretty prestigious names too: according to Deadline, the core ensemble is in negotiations to feature an impressive quartet of Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny.
That’s quite the cast list and should Netflix be able to sign up all four actors, will represent one of TV’s starriest ensembles of recent times. As well as two established movie stars in Hathaway and Gyllenhaal, Melton and Spaeny have earned rave reviews in the past year for their work in May December and Priscilla respectively.
The ‘beef’ this time is said to revolve around a pair of feuding couples, rather than individuals. That should be no problem for Sung Jin however, given that Beef was a critical darling and because he’s just penned the script for Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts, a huge ensemble film in which we imagine he’s had to find a way to give each of the many movie stars in the film enough space to breathe.
Still, even after writing parts for half of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Thunderbolts, it looks like more movie stars beckon for Sung Jin if Netflix gets its chequebook out. A late summer production date is being eyed for this one, so watch this space as casting confirmation shouldn’t be too far away. If this story does turn into an actual casting announcement though, Beef's second season will become must-watch TV (as if it wasn’t already). We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.
