‘Beef’ Creator Lee Sung Jin ‘Honored’ to Be Working on ‘X-Men’ Reboot Script: ‘No Matter How Much You Got Going on, You Have to Say Yes’

“Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin didn’t think twice before agreeing to work on the latest script for the upcoming “X-Men” reboot.

“No matter how much you got going on, you have to say yes,” he told me Wednesday night at the Season 2 premiere of “Beef” in Hollywood.

Jake Schreier, who has been tapped to reboot “X-Men” for the MCU, recently told Collider that Lee and Joanna Calo, “The Bear” co-showrunner and “Beef” creative, were taking a pass on the latest draft of the upcoming superhero adventure. 

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“I have fond memories of my father and I waking up Saturday mornings watching the ‘X-Men’ cartoon and reading the comics,” Lee said.

He said one of his favorite mutants is Gambit. “I love Jubilee,” Lee said. “You know, everyone goes to Cyclops, Wolverine, but for me growing up, I always loved the kind of supporting members. But this is super early. None of this means that anything is going on. This is more just to say that I’m a big, big fan of the comics and I’m just very honored to have a small part in it.”

“X-Men” marks an MCU reunion for Schreier, Lee and Calo after last year’s “Thunderbolts*.”

Jake Schreier, a “Beef” executive producer and director, was nervous about saying too much – he wouldn’t even name his favorite mutant – but he did talk about working with Lee and Calo again. “I’ve worked with Sonny [Lee] and Joanna on so many things,” he said. “Anytime you can work with people that you care so deeply about and who are so talented at their craft, and you have made something together where you have a shorthand, if you can keep going with that, it always seems like a good thing to do.”

“Beef” Season 2 sees an entirely new cast and storyline led by Carey Mulligan and Oscar Isaac as a couple whose marriage is falling apart.

“It was exponentially more work for some reason,” Lee said of Season 2. “I think we have more prospective characters, less time to develop it, trying to raise the bar, sophomore album, you know, trying to do something different. It just took a lot of blood, sweat and tears from everybody, but I’m excited that it’s finally out.”

The final cuts of the episodes were delivered just last week. “Everyone was very mad at me,” Lee said, smiling. “I think if it weren’t for deadlines, I don’t know that the show would ever even be seen because we’re always tinkering, we’re always trying to make it better.”

Mulligan and Isaac’s characters’ fights and arguments are harsh, with the two of them hurling very mean things at each other.

“Just drink a lot, edibles, all sorts of edibles,” Issac joked when asked about not taking the meanness home at the end of a day of shooting. “Take a hit of bufo and just chill out.” Mulligan added, “There is a catharsis to smashing up a trophy cabinet. I will say I didn’t mind it.”

“Beef” Season 2 premieres on Netflix on April 16.