Last month, Steven Yeun joined the ever-growing ensemble cast of the upcoming Marvel film “Thunderbolts.” Now the creator of Yeun’s latest buzzy project, Netflix‘s “Beef,” out April 6, joins the MCU, too. Variety reports that “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin joins “Thunderbirds” as a writer. It’s Lee’s first writing credit on a feature film after working on other TV series like “Tuca & Bertie,” “Dave,” and “Silicon Valley.”
Lee’s involvement also marks a reunion with Jake Schreier, director of “Beef,” who’s been attached to direct “Thunderbolts” since last June. Lee told Variety he’s being brought in to spruce up the film’s script. “I’m rewriting it,” said the writer. “It’s the whole squad again. Jake asked me if I would come on board. I probably should have taken a break, but there’s a lot of themes and exciting things about the movie that I couldn’t help but sign on.”
Lee sounds excited to work with Schreier again, even if “Thunderbolts” is a much different project than “Beef.” “It’s truly an honor to be part of a Marvel thing, but it is very different,” Lee continued. “One, it’s not my project, it’s Jake’s. It’s such a large scope and scale that the type of writing is very different. At the same time, the process feels the same, I’m still talking to Jake every day. … I think once you find the squad of people you love and trust and are so talented, you do everything you can to keep working with them.” Lee doctors a script by Marvel veteran Eric Pearson, who penned “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Black Widow.”
As for plot details on “Thunderbolts,” that’s all under wraps at this point. But Marvel fans understand that movie gets its name from a group of heroes adjacent to Captain America in the comics overseen by Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. Harrison Ford steps in to play Ross for the late, great William Hurt, who portrayed the character in earlier Marvel films. Also on board for “Thunderbolts”: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, and Wyatt Russell. Ayo Edibiri, of “The Bear” fame, is also part of the ensemble cast, but her role, like Yeun’s, remains unknown.
“Thunderbolts” concludes Marvel’s Phase 5 next year when it hits theaters on July 26, 2024. As for what sets up this film’s events, expect “Captain America: New World Order,” out May 3, 2024, to do so more than “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” or “The Marvels.”