Jaehwa Bernardo

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'Beef' tackles generational conflicts in season 2: creator

Agence France-Presse

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1776327449845BEEF_201_SG_11501 (1).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in &#x27;Beef.&#x27; Photo courtesy of Netflix</div>LOS ANGELES — After winning awards for his groundbreaking dark comedy, &quot;Beef,&quot; creator Lee Sung-jin looked long and hard for the premise for a second season, but nothing seemed to work.Then a dispute in his own neighborhood showed him the dramatic potential of generational conflict.&quot;The incident itself wasn&#x27;t that interesting, but it was everyone&#x27;s reactions to it,&quot; Lee told a press conference about his Netflix series.While younger friends reacted with alarm to the fight, those over 40 dismissed it, he said.&quot;Gen Z peers... were all kind of like aghast, clutching their pearls, being like, &#x27;did you call 911?&#x27; &#x27;Is everyone okay?&#x27;&quot;Whereas my millennial and Gen X peers were like: &#x27;Big deal.&#x27; That juxtaposition, I thought, was very interesting.&quot;The first season of &quot;Beef&quot; starred Ali Wong and Steven Yeun as strangers whose escalating conflict stemmed from a road-rage incident.&quot;Beef 2,&quot; which premieres on Netflix on Thursday, explores tensions between couples from different generations in an elite country club setting.<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZtQoofDhJOM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></div>Oscar Isaac stars as the manager of the club, and Carey Mulligan as his ever-present wife, a couple who are frequently at odds, but who present a smooth surface for professional purposes.When younger employees, played by Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny, capture video of the older couple fighting, the table is laid for some intergenerational strife, a bit of blackmail and some corruption.The relationship between Melton and Spaeny&#x27;s characters will be tested throughout a storyline that examines the hopeless disparity between the haves and the have-nots.Lee, who also directs some episodes, drew inspiration for his characters from observing the generational divide at a club in Montecito, the tony Southern California enclave that is home to Hollywood A-listers, as well as Britain&#x27;s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan.While most of the members were over 62, the club&#x27;s employees were millennials and Gen Z, he said.&quot;I found that to be a great microcosm for society, because, you know, no matter how hard those employees work, they&#x27;re never going to become members.&quot;Mulligan, who worked with Isaac on 2011&#x27;s &quot;Drive&quot; and &quot;Inside Llewyn Davis&quot; two years later, said the rapport between them had been easy.&quot;Being able to bring in... that history, that shared past, that lived experience, and to have so much trust already, you know, it kind of means everything in those situations,&quot; she said.&quot;He&#x27;s very bold in all his choices, but none of it feels forced. It feels very natural.&quot;

After winning awards for his groundbreaking dark comedy, 'Beef,' creator Lee Sung-jin looked long and hard for the premise for a second season, but nothing seemed to work.

After winning awards for his groundbreaking dark comedy, 'Beef,' creator Lee Sung-jin looked long and hard for the premise for a second season, but nothing seemed to work.

'Beef' tackles generational conflicts in season 2: creator

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'Beef' tackles generational conflicts in season 2: creator

Agence France-Presse,

Paula Ramon

Published April 16, 2026 04:32 PM PHT

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Netflix

streaming

Beef

Beef Season 2

Oscar Isaac

Carey Mulligan

Charles Melton

Cailee Spaeny

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