Netflix has won the rights to a series starring Oscar nominee Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.
The two will also serve as executive producers of Beef, a 10-episode dramedy from creator Lee Sung Jin and A24. The streamer won the rights over multiple other suitors with a straight-to-series pickup.
Beef will follow two people involved in a road rage incident, both of whom let it burrow into their minds until it slowly consumes their every thought and action.
“Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, A24 and Netflix. It’s a dream team, and I’m honored to be collaborating with them,” said Lee. “I’m also grateful to the guy who yelled at me in traffic three years ago. I did not let it go, and now we have a show.”
We are incredibly excited to collaborate with Lee Sung Jin and help bring this rich series to life along with the inimitable Steven Yeun and Ali Wong,” said Jinny Howe, vp drama development, original series at Netflix. “Sung Jin has created a bold and at times outrageous world. It is an honest and powerful character study of two people who go about searching for connection in the unlikeliest of ways.”
Yeun is coming off his first Oscar nomination for Minari. Beef will be his first regular role in a live-action series since his Walking Dead character was killed off in 2016; he also does voice work on Amazon’s Invincible and Adult Swim’s Final Space.
Wong has a long relationship with Netflix, having starred in the streamer’s rom-com Always Be My Maybe and headlined comedy specials Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife.
Wong, Yeun and Lee all previously worked together on Tuca and Bertie, where Lee was a writer and co-executive producer, and Wong and Yeun were part of the voice cast. All three will executive produce Beef.
