Beef is finally returning for its second season on Netflix and, with it, comes a new cast of characters who find themselves in conflict with each other. What remains the same, however, for this latest season is the setting, which is still California. It’s for that reason that I’ve long been wondering whether this is the same Cali that serves as the backdrop for the original episodes. I asked series director Jake Schreier about that during a recent interview for CinemaBlend, and I wasn’t expecting his answer.
Jake Schreier has certainly been in the position of having to watch his words when it comes to talking about his projects. After all, he did direct Marvel’s Thunderbolts* (or New Avengers), and he’s also helming the upcoming X-Men reboot (which we discussed). Still, I’d be lying if I said I expected the director to be cagey in regard to the inner workings of producer/writer Lee Sung Jin’s Beef continuity. When I asked Schreier whether the seasons take place in the exact same California, he said the following:
I think…. man, is it the same California? You got to ask Sunny that. I don't want to, like, spoil the BCU, or whatever you call it. But, I think it's a similar world, for sure.
“Similar”, of course, is quite different from “same,” and I find it quite intriguing that Schreier won’t commit to a definitive answer. To begin with, I’d also argue that this is a fair question, given how anthology series can vary in regard to continuity. A show like Miracle Workers dabbles in alternate timelines, while Fargo steadily builds out an interconnected universe. Personally, I like the idea of the different seasons of Jin’s show taking place within the same world.
Ironically, for a while, it didn’t seem as though Beef would even have another season, as it was billed as a limited series. However, when asked about a potential second season in 2023, Lee Sung Jin revealed that he’d originally pitched the show as an anthology project featuring spats between different characters. Jin doubled down on his Season 2 hopes after the show dominated at the Emmys. By early 2024, the new season was reported to be in the works.
The first season of Beef focuses on the back-and-forth between Danny (Steven Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong), who become enemies following a road rage incident. Season 2 shifts the focus to the married and well-to-do Josh (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay (Carey Mulligan) as well as their engaged country club employees, Ashley (Cailee Spaeney) and Austin (Charles Melton), who witness their bosses viciously fighting at home. Schreier weighed in on whether the new episodes were more “heightened” compared to their predecessors:
I don't know that we thought of it as being more heightened. I think it's possible, though, because it starts in a very different place. You know, like Season 1 starts, like, leaps into violence for the very first moment of the show, and this season is more of a slow burn. And so maybe because of that, it felt like you wanted, like, a bigger canvas to plan by the time you got to the end, like for the promise of what Beef is.
Although it’s unclear whether these two seasons are actually set within the same universe, it’s evident that Jake Schreier, Lee Sung Jin and the rest of the creative team want to deliver a similar experience. Viewers can check out Beef Season 2 when it becomes available for Netflix subscription holders to stream on April 16 amid the 2026 TV schedule.
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