Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Beef Season 2: Charles Melton on Austin’s quietest scene and why doing almost nothing could reveal everything about his character.
In this Collider interview, Charles Melton breaks down his approach to playing Austin in Netflix’s Beef Season 2, from a deceptively simple scene involving a struggling bee to an hour spent driving around Seoul, South Korea, for a moment built around simply thinking and being still.
Melton explains why Austin’s attempt to save the bee tells viewers so much about his character, including his struggle with purpose, his relationship, and his fear of disappearing. He also discusses working with Cailee Spaeny, describing their strong friendship and the trust and comfort they developed before filming.
The conversation goes deeper into Melton’s acting process, including dream work, journaling, structure analysis, and the idea of building a metaphorical mask for each character before eventually letting it go. He also reveals that creator Lee Sung Jin pitched him the season without scripts. Instead, they spent hours having existential and philosophical conversations and sharing books about subjects including codependency and attachment styles.
Melton also reflects on drawing from his own Korean-American experience while playing Austin and how the character’s questions about identity, purpose, relationships, and belonging can resonate beyond any single identity.
Chapters:
0:00 Why Austin Tries to Save a Bee
1:24 Filming Austin’s Quiet Seoul Car Scene
2:46 Working With Cailee Spaeny
3:49 Charles Melton’s Acting Process
4:50 Lee Sung Jin’s Script-Free Season 2 Pitch
5:41 The Metaphorical Mask Behind Austin
7:04 Austin and the Korean-American Experience
Our Social Media:
facebook.com/collider
x.com/Collider
Our Website
collider.com
Video By Maggie Lovitt & Trent B Minia
For copyright matters, please contact us at: legal@valnetinc.com
#beef #charlesmelton #collider
Beef Season 2: Charles Melton on Austin’s quietest scene and why doing almost nothing could reveal everything about his character.
In this Collider interview, Charles Melton breaks down his approach to playing Austin in Netflix’s Beef Season 2, from a deceptively simple scene involving a struggling bee to an hour spent driving around Seoul, South Korea, for a moment built around simply thinking and being still.
Melton explains why Austin’s attempt to save the bee tells viewers so much about his character, including his struggle with purpose, his relationship, and his fear of disappearing. He also discusses working with Cailee Spaeny, describing their strong friendship and the trust and comfort they developed before filming.
The conversation goes deeper into Melton’s acting process, including dream work, journaling, structure analysis, and the idea of building a metaphorical mask for each character before eventually letting it go. He also reveals that creator Lee Sung Jin pitched him the season without scripts. Instead, they spent hours having existential and philosophical conversations and sharing books about subjects including codependency and attachment styles.
Melton also reflects on drawing from his own Korean-American experience while playing Austin and how the character’s questions about identity, purpose, relationships, and belonging can resonate beyond any single identity.
Chapters:
0:00 Why Austin Tries to Save a Bee
1:24 Filming Austin’s Quiet Seoul Car Scene
2:46 Working With Cailee Spaeny
3:49 Charles Melton’s Acting Process
4:50 Lee Sung Jin’s Script-Free Season 2 Pitch
5:41 The Metaphorical Mask Behind Austin
7:04 Austin and the Korean-American Experience
Our Social Media:
facebook.com/collider
x.com/Collider
Our Website
collider.com
Video By Maggie Lovitt & Trent B Minia
For copyright matters, please contact us at: legal@valnetinc.com
#beef #charlesmelton #collider
