Entertainment
Charles Melton Gives the Perfect Answer for the Biggest Mystery of Netflix’s Season 2 Finale of ‘Beef’
[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Beef Season 2.]
Summary
Netflix’s hit series Beef returned for Season 2, from three-time Emmy Award-winning creator Lee Sung Jin, with a whole new ensemble and story. With all eight episodes now streaming, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke with Lee and star Charles Melton to discuss the nuanced finale, from the two thematic oners to what that final shot actually means.
This season, we followed newly engaged Gen Z couple Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Melton) as they found themselves tangled up in their boss’s unraveling relationship. Set against the backdrop of an exclusive country club, after witnessing a heated private moment between their manager Joshua (Oscar Isaac) and his wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligan), the two couples end up in competition, vying for the approval of the club’s billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung). Season 2 also stars Seoyeon Jang (Butterfly), Song Kang-ho (Parasite), Mikaela Hoover (Superman), and William Fichtner (Talamasca: The Secret Order).
In addition to the season finale, Lee shares exciting news for Marvel’s upcoming, as-of-yet untitled X-Men movie, which he’s set to pen alongside fellow Beef collaborator Joanna Calo, with Thunderbolts* and Beef director Jake Schreier at the helm. Don’t miss what’s in store for MCU fans; check out the full conversation in the video above or in the transcript below.
Marvel’s X-Men Movie Just Got a Major Rewrite Update
“I hold all these characters near and dear to my heart.”
COLLIDER: Beef Season 2 is just fantastic. You guys did such amazing work.
LEE SUNG JIN: Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate that.
Sonny, I have to start with you as an individual, if you don’t mind. I’m sure you noticed that we wrote about X-Men and your involvement. I have to ask you, are you and Joanna [Calo] adapting? Are you working off a draft, or are you guys doing a page one rewrite?
LEE: Oh, man. I don’t know that I’m allowed to say. Where’s my publicist? I know that there was a previous draft, but I also know that Joanna, Jake [Schreier], and I, and Stephen, the producer, and Kevin [Feige] and Lou [D’Esposito], we’ve been meeting regularly and trying to create a new draft. I love working with these people, often frequent collaborators, so I think the goal for us is just to keep getting in rooms, keep spitballing.
I’m such a huge, huge fan of X-Men. My dad was in town for my daughter’s birthday, my mom and dad both were, and I told them the news about X-Men, and he was like, “That’s the good one.” I have such fond memories of me and my dad on Saturday morning, every morning, waking up, I think it was probably, like, 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. central time. We’d watch every single episode and read the comics. I was a huge Gambit fan growing up, so the love is very strong. I hold all these characters near and dear to my heart.
I think Jake has such a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish through this movie. So, yeah, Joanna and I are here just to service the greater story, and we’re very, very honored to be a part of it.
I’m over the moon that you guys are working on it.
The film is expected to premiere in 2028.
Charles Melton Pushed Himself for the Perfect “Tom Cruise” Shot
“Nobody can pressure me more than I can pressure myself.”
Jumping into the show. Charles, I’ve watched your work before, but this is by far my favorite work that I’ve seen of you. You’re just so good in this, and I’m just curious, did you put any additional pressure on yourself once you read the scripts, you saw your scene partners, and realized what you were stepping into?
CHARLES MELTON: Yeah. I work with an immense amount of pressure. Nobody can pressure me more than I can pressure myself. That’s kind of my way of life, I guess. But I think the environment that Lee Sung Jin created, and just the collaboration, I know we all individually, the cast, spent hours and hours and hours discussing existential things and shadow selves and experiences, these characters, which were filtered through the mind of Sunny and his own experience for them to write and have us, the actors, just telegraph these stories. It was such an exciting environment to be a part of. We were laughing… I mean, I wasn’t laughing all the time, but…
LEE SUNG JIN: I don’t know if it’s his football background, because he played football in college, just like Austin did, but Charles has a competitive streak in him that, I think, pushes yourself, whether it’s in ADR. He holds the record right below Song Kang-ho. Song Kang-ho holds the record in terms of how many takes he wants to do in ADR. It’s like literally hundreds. Charles is right there in the 90s.
There’s a shot in the finale when he’s running to grab a taxi. We got it, and we were going to move on. Charles is like, “I can go faster, like Tom Cruise.” We were like, “You can give us the Tom Cruise?” He was like, “Yeah.” So then he went one more time — pulled his hamstring. So, he’s always pushing himself to the limit until his body literally breaks, and I think that’s why we have the performance from him that we do.
MELTON: Thanks, man.
Is Austin Actually Happy in the ‘Beef’ Season 2 Finale?
Charles Melton has the perfect answer.
I do want to talk spoilers. I’ve obviously watched the whole thing, and I love the ending. For both of you, what are your thoughts on the way it ended, especially with the Gen Z couple taking over the country club?
JIN: It was really important for us to bookend the season with those two oners at the country club. Even the event in that oner is an event that depicts the four seasons, which is representative of each of the four couples. A big theme is the turning of seasons, the turning of generations, so we see spring turning to summer, to fall into winter. So, it made sense for us to show how Ashley and Austin ended up becoming a version of Josh and Lindsay.
In our youth, there’s so much hubris in terms of the ideologies that we hold, and there’s nothing wrong with those ideals. I think those are good ideals to have. But then life comes at you fast. I think it’s hard to hold on to those ideals when life throws you curveballs, especially financially. So, whether that’s a right or wrong decision, I’m hoping that the show doesn’t come across like we’re judging that decision. I think it really is open to interpretation, whether that’s something that they had to do or not.
Charles, I want to ask you a different question. Do you think Austin is ultimately happy with the decisions he made? Because when he’s in the car, he has the kid, he has the family, he’s walking out, and it’s a hard read. I’m just curious what your take was on where Austin is mentally?
MELTON: Dude, that’s a great question, man. I think about the ending, samsara, the aerial view, with Sunny talking about the cycles of life and things repeating themselves, whether they’re aversions of each other or not. I believe, as an audience member, it changes. I think if I watched it today, I’d say he’s happy and he’s in love. I think it depends on the day you’re watching the ending and what projection you may have in that moment for what you’re witnessing as an audience member. I think that’s up to the audience to decide.
But if anything, I think it’s a slice of truth and of reality. Not everything in life is rainbows and stars and sparkly dust. What is life? What Sunny does is, somehow, in the reality of it, capture that which is very universal. So, I think it just depends on the day when you’re watching that finale. I’m sure you’d have a different interpretation if you watched it tomorrow or the next day after having two hours of sleep.
Beef Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix now.
- Release Date
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April 6, 2023
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Lee Sung Jin
- Directors
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Hikari, Jake Schreier, Kitao Sakurai, Lee Sung Jin
- Writers
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Alice Ju
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