“Beef” Creator Lee Sung Jin Reveals 3 Real-Life Incidents That Inspired Season 2 (Exclusive)
“Beef” Creator Lee Sung Jin Reveals 3 Real-Life Incidents That Inspired Season 2 (Exclusive)
Charna FlamSun, April 19, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC
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Lee Sung Jin on April 8, 2026 in Los AngelesCredit: Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty for Netflix
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Beef season 2.
Lee Sung Jin, "Sonny," spoke exclusively with PEOPLE about Beef season 2, and its focus on themes of class and love
He tells PEOPLE that several real-life moments and observations inspired various key plot points
"I can only write what I know," Sonny tells PEOPLE
Emmy-winning writer-director Lee Sung Jin gives PEOPLE a peek behind the curtain of what inspired his examination of the elite in Beef's second season.
Lee Sung Jin, who also goes by Sonny, spoke to PEOPLE about the latest season of the hit Netflix series, revealing that a few real-life moments helped inspire key plot points. "First and foremost, I can only write what I know," he tells PEOPLE.
The new season tackles the divides between young and "older" love, as well as class, by following newly engaged country club staffers Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton) as they face off against their boss, Josh (Oscar Isaac), and his wife, Lindsay (Carey Mulligan).
Their beef is triggered after Ashley and Austin try to return a wallet to Josh's home, but witness and film a concerning fight between Josh and Lindsay. The young couple uses that interaction to their advantage and asks for various favors, including health insurance.
Lee Sung Jin and Charles Melton on April 8, 2026 in Los AngelesCredit: Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty for Netflix
Sonny, 44, tells PEOPLE that the "springboard" of the season was "inspired" by a "real-life incident" in which he overheard "a 'heated debate' coming from a couple's home." He explains that after retelling the story to various people, he received different reactions. "It was when 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]?’"
He explains that to create and write an "honest" season about "younger love versus older love in 2026," it becomes pertinent to "tackle the theme of class."
"That affects every interaction," he says. "It's not getting better, it's getting worse."
As for how he and the writers wanted to address that theme, they decided that Ashley and Austin don't have health insurance.
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But Sonny explains to PEOPLE that he was able to offer commentary on the healthcare industry as a whole by positioning Ashley in dire need. During the fourth episode, Ashley and Austin wait in the ER for over five hours after Ashley's ovarian torsion worsens, later prompting emergency surgery.
Cailee Spaeny in 'Beef'Credit: Netflix
Sonny says that documenting the young couple's extended wait was inspired by an incident in which he spent over 10 hours in the ER with his wife.
"I literally just wrote down in my notes app everything that happened, dialogue I overheard, and pretty much and pasted it and wrote it in a day," he says. "So that episode is not an exaggeration. That is the state of our health industry at the moment."
"We're just responding to real life," he says. "I'd love to get to a point where society isn't what it is, so we can write about something other than class," Sonny says. "But until then, we'll just, we'll just keep trying to shout it from the mountaintops."
Charles Melton, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac and Cailee Spaeny as Ashley Miller in 'Beef'Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
As for focusing on class dynamics of those involved with an affluent at a country club in Montecito, Calif., Sonny confirmed at the April 8 Beef premiere that it was also inspired by a real-life moment. "I happened to be house-sitting for a friend who had a Montecito Club membership, and I got to use it for a month," he said.
"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. And 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," he said. "So we took that metaphor and ran with it."
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Beef season 2 is streaming now on Netflix.
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