Charles Melton’s “Beef” Season 2 surrender pays off

Charles Melton punctuated his “Beef” Season 2 interview with Netflix’s Los Angeles offices by stopping to remove a stray eyelash—then talked, in detail, about surrendering to Austin’s vulnerability, the bee scene in Episode 1, and why his work is never about “

On June 4, Charles Melton is set to accept a Performance Award for “Beef” at IndieWire Honors in Los Angeles—an award night that’s already buzzing with anticipation. Inside Netflix’s Los Angeles offices, though, his attention shifts to something smaller than awards: a wayward eyelash.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Melton says, pinching the tiny hair away with surgical precision. “Make a wish,” he adds, settling back from one of Netflix’s many green rooms as the conversation begins.

It’s the kind of moment that has helped fuel a new wave of endearment around the 35-year-old actor. After six seasons on The CW’s “Riverdale. ” Melton landed a breakthrough film role in Todd Haynes’ “May December. ” a performance that earned him a Gotham Award in 2024. And even as he looks toward the IndieWire Honors Spring 2026 ceremony—set for June 4—his path to “Beef” keeps circling back to the same feeling: once you’re inside the work. it gets personal fast.

“[Gold House] put together” a dinner honoring him, Melton recalls. “So many incredible filmmakers that now I have relationships with [were there], and Sonny was sitting next to me and said, ‘Hey, this is in our writer’s room.’”

He says Lee Sung Jin showed him a picture of himself. “We’re writing for you,” Lee told him.

“It was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments,” Melton says. He adds that he had “a lot of ‘pinch me’ moments during the ‘May December’ press tour.”

That invitation—to be seen, to be written into the world—helps explain why Melton now sounds so protective of Austin, the character he plays in Season 2 of the Emmy-winning Netflix anthology series “Beef,” created by Lee Sung Jin.

For Melton, Austin is a deconstruction of masculinity. “You can be kind and loving and endearing and sweet and also still kind of be a rock,” he says. He links that emotional duality to work he does on himself: “That’s just something that bleeds in from the work that I do with myself, into my work.”

Austin’s arc also mirrors, in Melton’s mind, coming-of-age that arrives late rather than early. “When I think about his journey throughout this, you’re really watching him come of age for the very first time,” he says. “And it’s not just one thing.”

Melton describes Austin as someone shaped by codependency—someone who people-pleases. who orbits the people around him like they’re “the sun.” As Ashley—played by Cailee Spaeny—changes. Melton says “things start to crack.” He also points to what Austin starts noticing as he moves through class and identity: “his Koreanness. ” his Korean identity in the workplace. and the way his background shifts—from being “this very celebrated collegiate football player” to becoming completely broke. and then “starting to make some money.”.

He credits Lee’s process for pulling him closer to those details. “Sonny and I would talk for hours on the phone and I’m like. ‘Dude. are you texting?’ He’s like. ‘No. I’m writing notes.’ Because he’d be writing in real time when I would share certain stories. ” Melton says. “He’s really great at understanding the essence. mining his experience and blending it with my own. in order to create what we created with Austin.”.

Collaboration is a theme Melton returns to again and again—whether he’s talking about “Beef” or other projects. He has also worked with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Alex Garland on “Warfare. ” and says the filmmakers he’s honored to work with share a particular kind of creative openness. “What they all have in common is their uniqueness of collaboration and not being so constrained to just an idea that doesn’t allow you to exist in their world. ” Melton says.

He explains the difference in trust. “With the great auteurs, they have a vision,” he says. “And once you trust the auteur and that vision, you know you’re going to end there.” He adds that Lee told him, “I know this is going to end in Korea and there’s going to be an ‘Old Boy’ fight sequence.”

Season 2’s cast includes Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, who play an older couple in conflict with Austin and Ashley. Melton says the show does deliver the scene in the finale—but he also insists the journey to get there wasn’t smooth, especially emotionally.

“It was a very frustrating process for me,” he says, speaking about playing Austin as often bumbly rather than broadly comedic. “I never once played the joke.”

Melton argues that the humor is already in ordinary life—the “subtlety and mundanity of life” that can be funny without being forced. But that required him to do something harder than physical comedy: “I had to unmask myself to be vulnerable and empathetic. to surrender to the seriousness of everything he was going through. ” he says. Only then, he adds, can the experience land as funny to an audience.

One early scene became an example Melton can’t forget. In many interviews about “Beef” Season 2, including one with IndieWire, he brings up Episode 1’s bee moment. He says the feeling while shooting it was almost the opposite of what viewers might take from it.

“Technically it was one of the hardest scenes I ever had to film,” Melton says. “In the span of 30 seconds, Austin’s thinking about his place in this world, doing pushups, feeling of no use, codependent with Ashley, she’s not responding to him.”

Then the scene turns: “Doing pushups, he notices a bee. The bee is struggling. He runs up, grabs a cup of water, gets back down in the pushup position, dips his hand in the water, tries to save the bee, the bee dies and that’s all in one shot.”

Melton says the sequence “tells you exactly who Austin is,” but the experience itself didn’t feel funny to him. “For me it was not funny, but it’s amazing how, through the edit and the final picture, it is.”

He contrasts audience certainty with actor uncertainty: “If I were playing, ‘Oh, the audience is going to laugh at this.’ You don’t know. You have no idea,” he says. “But reading things on paper, it could be humorous.”

For Melton, the episode’s emotional engine is Austin’s slow collapse. “I love the complexity of Austin,” he says. “He just slowly starts to crack and you’re seeing him trying to super glue the pieces of this mask that he has conviction in. that he’s plastered to his face that slowly starts to crumble all the way until the end.”.

Even with that kind of performance effort behind him, Melton pushes back against how artists are often described once awards season begins. Though he’s receiving the Performance Award for “Beef” at IndieWire Honors on June 4, he says he resists calling what he does “performance” when he’s on set.

“When I’m working, I’m not performing because there’s no grounded authenticity for me to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to perform it this way.’ No, I’m going to do the work,” he says. He describes it as a question of semantics—something about “performing” implies he’s telegraphing for the audience.

“I can’t telegraph the story with the restraint of what you may think,” he says.

The emotional lock-in goes deeper, he adds. “I care about Austin so much, and that’s just like a part of me,” Melton says. “Everything that I do, more so now than before, it’s a part of my soul. And what I mean by that is whenever I read something. something bubbles to the surface that needs to be explored.”.

With “Beef. ” he points to themes he recognized—“the Korean American experience. identity. being a former college athlete.” He says the details arrive differently than a planned career path. “But I mean. if you told me what I was going to do next or what I wanted to do next. I couldn’t tell you. ” he says. “It will be revealed to me and I’ll know when I read it, spiritually.”.

Melton does, however, understand what this kind of role can mean in the industry. “A 2026 Emmy contender for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie” is how “Beef” has positioned him heading into the awards conversation. Still, he says becoming a leading man isn’t the driving ambition.

“I’d rather be a part of something great and just have one scene than be a part of something maybe not as great and have an amazing performance,” he says. “I just want to do good work.”

He says the trust he’s built with visionary filmmakers has changed his mindset on set. “When I go to set, I’m not thinking about giving them one layer,” Melton says. “I’ll give them all of me and they can figure it out themselves, where I completely surrender and just relinquish and let go.”

“Beef” Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

Charles Melton Beef Season 2 Netflix IndieWire Honors Lee Sung Jin Cailee Spaeny Riverdale May December Gotham Award Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy contender