Beef Creator Lee Sung Jin Joins Thunderbolts As New Writer

Before the Avengers return to the silver screen and the Fantastic Four arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios has a much different team-up film in store. "Thunderbolts" will see the likes of Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and more come together to form a most unlikely alliance. In hopes of getting the movie in the best shape possible before principal photography gets underway, the minds behind "Thunderbolts" have hired a new writer for the feature: Lee Sung Jin.

This news comes from Variety, which confirmed his involvement with "Thunderbolts" in a March 29, 2023 report. For those unfamiliar, Lee Sung Jin has several writing credits to his name heading into "Thunderbolts" — his first produced feature film writing credit — ranging from "2 Broke Girls" to "Tuca & Bertie." He's also the creator of the Netflix series "Beef," which hits streaming on April 6. He's stepping in for the movie's former scribe, Eric Pearson, who notably wrote 2021's "Black Widow."

As production revs upon "Thunderbolts," Lee Sung Jin has expressed his excitement about getting to work with Marvel Studios and reuniting with previous collaborators.

Speaking to Variety while promoting the release of "Beef," Lee Sung Jin shared that he's looking forward to working with Marvel Studios on "Thunderbolts." Although, it's a bit of a different experience for him. "It's truly an honor to be part of a Marvel thing, but it is very different. 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," he said, referring to director Jake Schreier as the true driving force behind "Thunderbolts."

Coincidentally, "Thunderbolts" will reunite Lee Sung Jin with some of his "Beef" collaborators. In addition to Schreier, who sat in the director's chair for the show, Steven Yeun — the actor behind Danny Cho on "Beef" — will appear in "Thunderbolts." "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," he added. Lee Sung Jin notes that he's in the process of rewriting the film and that it contains themes and concepts he's eager to explore.

"Thunderbolts" will take the movies by storm on July 26, 2024.