Netflix’s Beef Season 2 Confirms A Harsh Reality About Limited Series That’s Gotten Worse Over The Last Decade

Summary

• Recent reports of Beef season 2 continue the trend of limited series becoming anthologies or multi-season narratives after initial success.
• The show’s creator originally pitched Beef as an anthology to Netflix, avoiding controversy over shifting from limited series to a longer format.
• Netflix’s history of canceling shows after only one season raises questions about the potential impact of extending successful miniseries like Beef.

A new report reveals that Beef season 2 is in the works, highlighting a harsh reality about the miniseries label that has only worsened in recent years. Netflix and A24’s 2023 limited series Beef stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as two strangers whose lives become intertwined after being involved in an incident of road rage that escalates into an increasingly drawn-out feud. Beef’s emotional ending and cast performances have led the miniseries to receive numerous prestigious accolades, including Outstanding Limited Series and acting category wins for Yeun and Wong at the Emmys, SAG Award wins, and Golden Globes wins.

Nearly one year after the show’s premiere on Netflix, Deadline reported that Beef season 2 could happen on the streaming service, with rumors indicating that movie stars like Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are being eyed for the second installment. Rather than extending the story of Danny and Amy in the comedy-drama, however, Beef season 2 would reportedly become an anthology series following a feud between new characters. While it makes sense that the showrunner and Netflix would jump on the success of Beef with the potential for another installment, turning the show into an anthology continues a growing issue with limited series.

Beef
is available to stream exclusively on Netflix.

Beef Season 2 Rumors Confirm Audiences Should No Longer Expect A “Limited Series” To Remain One Season

Beef season 2 actually happening at Netflix would continue the escalating trend of hit TV shows becoming anthologies or multi-season narratives after originally debuting as a limited series. This notably happened with popular shows like Big Little Lies, Scream, and The White Lotus, which enjoyed such massive success that studios decided to pivot and extend their stories into more seasons or turn them into anthologies. Netflix hasn’t officially confirmed Beef season 2, but with the creator reportedly having scripts ready for another season under an anthology premise, it’s hard to imagine that the streamer would pass up on such a promising opportunity.

With critical hits like The White Lotus, Your Honor, and now, reportedly, Beef unexpectedly breaking their initial “miniseries” promises to enjoy more seasons, it’s become difficult for audiences to trust that a popular limited series will actually remain a one-season show. On the other hand, many recent popular and critically-acclaimed limited series like Mare of Easttown, Maid, Chernobyl, and Mike Flanagan’s various Netflix horror shows have resisted the temptation to become anthologies or extended narratives. Still, it’s becoming an expectation that similar miniseries-branded shows will continue on if they prove successful for their studios.

Beef
creator Lee Sung Jin revealed that the show was originally pitched to Netflix as an anthology.

Beef Becoming An Anthology Series Helps Avoid Criticisms After Its Award Wins

With acclaimed anthology TV shows seeing a greater resurgence over the last decade, the Emmy Awards officially changed its limited series category to “Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series” in 2021. However, there has been some debate about whether TV shows like Big Little Lies should still be able to keep their “Limited Series” award wins after being extended with additional non-anthology seasons. Accusations of category fraud have thus been thrown around in instances such as that, but turning Beef into an anthology series, which still counts under that category, avoids inspiring similar controversy after its 2023-2024 awards season sweep.

At the 2024-held Emmy Awards, Beef won Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series over Netflix’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Amazon’s Daisy Jones & the Six, FX’s Fleishman Is in Trouble, and Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. So far, only Monster has been confirmed to become an anthology show after its streaming success, with the other three nominees, not including Beef, still remaining one-season limited series. If Beef’s season 1 cast members Steven Yeun and Ali Wong reprised their roles for another season, then criticism over the show’s Emmy wins would be warranted. However, introducing an anthology format invalidates such controversy.

Netflix Turning Beef Into An Anthology Series Would Still Be Ironic

With Netflix receiving plenty of criticism for cancelling TV shows after one season, it would be ironic for the streamer to continue giving extended runs to shows that premiered with one-season, miniseries labels. Popular TV shows like The Society, The Midnight Club, I Am Not Okay with This, and 1899 were cancelled by Netflix after only one season, despite hoping for longer multi-season arcs. Such sudden cancellations have resulted in significant controversy for Netflix, so giving limited series additional seasons will inevitably exacerbate the backlash for those shows cut short.

Beef season 2 – though still unconfirmed – would join several other Netflix “miniseries” that were later renewed for more seasons. For example, Ryan Murphy’s hit 2022 limited series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was later renewed by Netflix as an anthology series, his other 2022 Netflix miniseries The Watcher was renewed for season 2 (though its status as an anthology or story continuation is unclear), and 2017’s 13 Reasons Why was originally conceived as a limited series before going on to earn four total seasons. While Beef’s critical acclaim makes it Netflix’s most promising miniseries-turned-anthology show yet, the sting of other shocking one-season cancellations still remains.

Source: Deadline