When Beef hit Netflix in 2023, the show quickly won over not only the critics but millions of viewers around the world to become one of the most successful anthology series of all time.
Not only is the show one of the highest-rated Netflix shows on Rotten Tomatoes, but the show quite literally took home an array of awards including a historic win for the show’s lead Ali Wong at the Emmys as she became the first Asian-American actress to win Outstanding Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and the first woman of Asian descent to win an Emmy for a lead role. Wong’s co-star and fellow lead Steven Yuen also took home an Emmy for his performance while the show took home the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series or Anthology.
It came as little surprise when Netflix ordered a second season of the series and Netflix quickly began assembling yet another all-star-level cast for its new season. Sadly, it seems like we’re going to have to wait until 2026 to see the new players tapped for season 2.
Beef season 2 isn’t expected to be released on Netflix until 2026
As January came to a close, Netflix unveiled its 2025 programming slate which included many of the network’s biggest originals. The list included both shows previously confirmed for 2025 such as Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Squid Game as well as confirmation that we’d be getting new seasons of hits such as Emily in Paris, The Witcher, Nobody Wants This, and A Man on the Inside, to name a few. While there were a lot of big shows featured on the list, there were also a number of hit shows that were notably missing from the 2025 slate including the second season of Beef.
This seems to indicate Netflix will not be releasing the second season of Beef in 2025, and that fans instead are going to have to wait until sometime in 2026 for the second season to arrive. Of course, there is always a chance that Beef season 2 could drop in late 2026 as there were some surprise releases last year that weren’t on the 2024 programming slate announcement; however, one would imagine if Beef was returning in 2026 Netflix would include it among the long list of titles confirmed as coming this year.
It’s unclear what is behind the show’s delayed return, but there have been some hints that it simply took longer to conceive the concept for season 2 and it’s likely the show was also among many shows impacted by the 2023 strikes.
When season 2 does finally drop we’ll see Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny, Youn Yuh-jung starring in the new 8-episode season which will introduce us to a crop of new characters via a brand new story. Per the logline for the season, Beef season 2 will center around “a young couple witnesses an alarming fight between their boss and his wife, triggering chess moves of favors and coercion in the elitist world of a country club and its Korean billionaire owner.”
The wait for season 2 might be a long one, but we have a feeling it will definitely be worth it and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the show once again emerging as a favorite during award season!