Netflix’s 2-Part Global Smash With Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Is The Future Of Streaming

While Netflix’s Beef has been a hit since 2023’s season 1, it is 2026’s big season 2 change that proves the show’s approach is the future for streaming success. Netflix’s 2023 masterpiece Beef was an unexpected sleeper hit when the dramedy debuted. Starring Fresh Off the Boat’s Ali Wong as Amy Lau and Invincible’s Steven Yeun as Danny Cho, Beef was an unpredictable blend of character comedy, dark drama, and mystery thriller that confounded genre expectations and wowed critics as a result.

The show’s action focused on its central duo, two characters who are involved in a road rage incident and refuse to let go of it in the days that follow. Gradually, the titular beef between the pair comes to define the entire existence, as the contractor Danny and the wealthy business owner Amy are driven to increasingly absurd extremes in their feud. With a killer supporting cast that included Joseph Lee, Maria Bello, Kelvin Han Yee, and Ashley Park, Beef won Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series at the Emmys.

Thus, the news that Beef season 2 was on the way was already exciting before the show’s creators announced its big innovation. Originally a self-contained miniseries, Beef became an anthology show, so the series could tell a fresh new story in the same fictional universe, but populate it with all-new cast members and characters. Season 2 made the most of this opportunity, casting Civil War’s Cailee Spaeny, May December’s Charles Mellon, Inside Llewelyn Davis' Oscar Isaac, and Shame's Carey Mulligan as its two feuding couples.

Beef Has Been A Major Success With Critics And Audiences For Netflix

Since Beef season 1 also won Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film at the Golden Globes, it must have been tempting for the creators to consider simply returning to Amy and Danny’s story for a second chapter. However, 2025’s winner of the same award, Netflix’s dark drama Adolescence, proves that the show’s more daring approach is a better call in the long run.

Another self-contained drama miniseries about characters whose lives are torn apart by crime, Adolescence is a markedly darker, slower show than Beef. However, like Beef, its creators opted to safeguard the acclaim of the first season by announcing that season 2 would embrace an anthology approach, focusing on new characters in a new story.

This is an ingenious idea, as it allows each new season of these shows to introduce a whole new set of cast members, as well as simultaneously ensuring that their original stories don’t outstay their welcome. The plots of Beef and Adolescence might not have a lot in common, but one thing that the two shows do share is self-contained stories. Neither show’s season 1 ending invited a sequel, so turning the miniseries into an anthology instead was an inspired choice.

Beef's Transition From Miniseries To Anthology Points The Way Forward For Streaming

The decision to turn Beef into an anthology show is one that other streaming shows could learn from, and one that the Netflix hit already borrowed from a successful series. HBO’s murder mystery masterpiece The White Lotus changes its setting each season, with the titular chain of resorts acting as the loose connective tissue between each outing of the series.

This approach means that season 1 was a fun, satirically sharp murder mystery, while season 3 was a markedly more downbeat character study. Each season of The White Lotus features an all-star cast, but, far from being a mere gimmick, this slew of new characters ensures that the effectiveness of earlier seasons isn’t diluted by unnecessary sequels. By adopting an anthology approach, shows like Beef can get the best of both worlds, telling smart, self-contained stories while also building an increasingly complex fictional world that is built upon and expanded by each new outing of the show.