Beef Creator Says Song Kang-Ho Initially Said No to Joining Season 2 — And Changed His Mind Thanks to Youn Yuh-Jung

For decades, actor Song Kang-Ho has been a household name in South Korea. It's only natural, considering he's starred in many of the country's highest-grossing films and has collaborated multiple times with two of its most renowned filmmakers, Park Chan-Wook and Bong Joon-Ho. While Song's most widely recognized role is as Chauffeur Kim in Bong's record-breaking 2019 thriller Parasite, he has delivered singular performances across genres for nearly 30 years. Now, in only the actor's second role in television — the first one being 2024's historical drama Uncle Samsik — he stars in Beef Season 2 as Dr. Kim, the second husband of a billionaire chairwoman.

But it's a role that Song initially said no to. Beef creator Lee Sung Jin, who's also credited as the anthology's showrunner and an executive producer, shared how he got the veteran actor on board. It was only possible through another legend in Korean cinema — and the veteran actor who plays Chairwoman Park, whom Dr. Kim is married to — Youn Yuh-Jung. In 2021, Youn made history by becoming the first Korean to win an acting Oscar for her role in Lee Isaac Chung's Minari.

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"I knew that Season 2 would have a Korean element, that was very important for me. I wanted to write about this Korean conglomerate and the upper echelons of Korean society," Lee told TV Guide. "And I thought, you know what? We're here, let's do a moonshot." The showrunner was introduced to Youn through Steven Yeun, Youn's co-star in Minari and Beef Season 1's lead actor, who remains an executive producer on this season. "[Yuh-Jung] was laughing hysterically as I was pitching her. She was remarking on how nobody in Korea would ever write a character for her where she has a husband 20 years younger," Lee recalled. "So she was delighted to get to tackle something new in her career." 

Lee remembers talking to her about reaching out to Song. "I had told her, hey, I kind of want to go for it and go after Song Kang-Ho seonsaengnim," he said, using the Korean word for teacher. Youn had said she loved the idea, and Lee sent the pages for Season 2 to Song. "And you know what? He said no at first," Lee shared. "He goes, I don't think I can play this character, I don't know how to tackle this."

When Lee shared the news with Youn, she decided to call Song herself. "She was like, 'Ya! [A Korean term that's likened to an informal 'Hey!'] You're Song Kang-Ho, you're the greatest actor alive. What are you saying, you can't figure out how to play this character?'" Lee remembered Youn describing the call to him. "'Of course you can figure it out, and it's gonna be great. So you're gonna do the show.' And he was like, ne, ne, ne ['yes' in Korean]."

Lee described what happened next. "I got a text from [Song] saying that he'll do it. And we did have a lot of conversations to tweak the character to feel more bespoke," he said. In Beef Season 2's teaser, there are a few seconds of Song and Youn looking at each other. "It was a bucket list moment for me: Getting to be in Korea, directing [Yuh-Jung] and Song Kang-Ho in the first-ever scene they've ever done together," Lee shared. 

The highs didn't stop there. "As I was directing that scene, Director Bong Joon-Ho surprised us on set," Lee said. "He came up to the monitor and elbowed me and joked, 'Hey, are you sure you want to frame it like that?' And I was like, whatever you want, Director Bong. I'll change whatever." 

Beef Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix. Season 2 premieres April 16.