It’s time to fireside up the grill as a result of Beef is scorching as soon as once more. Creator, EP, author and director Lee Sung Jin is celebrating after Season 2 of Netflix‘s acclaimed anthology landed 16 Emmy nominations Thursday morning—three greater than its first installment.
The newest haul not solely cements Beef as one in all tv’s most acclaimed anthology sequence, it additionally marks one other milestone for Lee. With this 12 months’s recognition, he turned the primary Asian tv creator to earn a number of Emmy nominations throughout the Restricted or Anthology Sequence or Film, Writing and Directing classes for a similar sequence. His newest directing nomination additionally makes him the primary Asian director to obtain a number of Emmy nominations within the Excellent Directing for a Restricted or Anthology Sequence class.
“I’m simply over the moon, so grateful,” Jin informed Deadline. Amid the thrill, Jin mirrored on the success and resonance of Season 2, because it serves a reminder that the work has all the time been about one thing a lot bigger than its appreciated accolades. “I believe this season has actually taught me that greater than nominations or industrial success, the rationale my collaborators and I proceed to do that is we inform tales to one another as a collective consciousness to faucet into deeper truths—stuff that’s arduous to speak about,” Jin mentioned. “Beneath all of the press and the hoopla we proceed to try to faucet into one thing very human and actual.”
Seeing audiences join with these tales, he added, “is an unimaginable present to have the ability to do this for a dwelling.”
That very same pursuit of emotional honesty additionally informs how Lee views his personal place in tv historical past. Having landed his first tv employees job in 2008 on Rob & Large and It’s All the time Sunny in Philadelphia, he mentioned the business has developed in methods he by no means imagined.
“I don’t suppose Beef may very well be made once I began, that’s for positive,” he mentioned earlier than redirecting the highlight in direction of the Asian and Asian American filmmakers and creatives who got here earlier than him. “There’ve been so many Asian American writers and administrators earlier than me which have paved the best way and didn’t get the popularity they deserved,” Jin mentioned. “Progess ought to have began earlier, however I’m grateful for the folks which are permitting progress to occur now.”
Highlighting his good working relationship with Korean Netflix executives Jinny Howe and Irene Lee, Jin defined that the cultural shorthand they shared helped Beef flourish together with hoping that the present’s continued success creates house for a good wider vary of tales from Asian and Asian American creatives.
“I believe what usually occurs is you get success with a sure sort of expertise after which everybody simply desires you to repeat and paste and hold doing that,” Jin mentioned. “As each group of colour is aware of, we comprise multitudes.”
He continued: “The Asian American expertise isn’t simply Steven Yeun’s Danny from Season 1. It’s not simply Ali Wong’s Amy from Season 1. It’s not simply Music Kang-ho’s Dr. Kim or the multiracial facet of Charles Melton’s Austin from Season 2. I’m so grateful I’ve received to indicate these slices, however there’s an infinite array of dimensions and layers that we comprise. I hope I hold getting these alternatives and proceed to indicate all of the totally different layers that we’ve.”
Thursday’s celebration prolonged to all the Beef household. Lee spent the morning exchanging messages with stars Youn, Melton, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac and Cailee Spaeny. “We’ve actually all grow to be household,” he mentioned. “On a day like this, it’s simply so pretty to have the ability to have fun with one another. The sequence just isn’t born of 1, or two, or three folks doing a fantastic job. It’s actually 200-some folks all placing of their blood, sweat and tears.”
That collaborative, character-driven philosophy is one thing Lee is now carrying into Marvel’s extremely anticipated X-Males reboot. Reuniting with longtime collaborator Jake Schreier and writing alongside The Bear‘s Joanna Calo, Jin mentioned the staff is approaching the enduring mutants by placing their humanity forward of spectacle.
“I grew up with X-Males and I believe there’s no higher set of characters that type of exemplify feeling othered, feeling totally different from the world,” Jin mentioned. “We wish to proceed mining from that theme and it couldn’t be extra related at present in 2026.”
Somewhat than starting with world-ending stakes, Jin mentioned that Marvel is concentrated on making audiences join with the characters first. “They wish to return to character first, which is the kind of writing that me and Joanna do greatest” he mentioned. “We’re fascinated by these characters and what makes them tick. What elements of them really feel universally relatable, and main with that first earlier than we begin fascinated by plots and world stakes and all that.”
“I believe audiences are all the time hungry for character first,”Jin added. “That’s the factor that makes storytelling resonate, that you just’re in a position to see and determine elements of your self in these folks on the massive display screen.”
Together with an Excellent Restricted or Anthology Sequence or Film nomination, Beef Season 2 additionally earned performing nominations for Mulligan, Isaac, Melton and Youn, alongside Excellent Casting for a Restricted or Anthology Sequence or Film and Excellent Modern Costumes for a Restricted or Anthology Sequence or Film.
