Order up: FX has renewed “The Bear” for a second season mere weeks after Season 1 premiered all at once on Hulu.
The half-hour kitchen dramedy, set in fictitious sandwich shop The Original Beef of Chicagoland, didn’t take long to gobbled down by critics. It has a perfect 100 percent Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 86 score on Metacritic. Well done, Beef.
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An FX rep confirmed that “The Bear” will remain a Hulu exclusive, but could not confirm whether the new season’s release schedule would follow a binge model, weekly model, or some combination of the two. “Too soon on that,” the rep replied to IndieWire’s inquiry.
“The Bear” follows Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), a young star chef from the world of fine dining, who comes home to Chicago to run his family’s Italian beef joint. The FX logline reads: “A world away from what he’s used to, Carmy must balance the soul-crushing realities of small business ownership, his strong-willed and recalcitrant kitchen staff and his strained familial relationships, all while grappling with the impact of his brother’s suicide.”
“‘The Bear’ has exceeded our wildest creative, critical and commercial expectations,” Eric Schrier, FX Entertainment president, said Thursday in announcing the renewal. “We deeply appreciate the brilliant work led by Creator and Co-Showrunner Christopher Storer and Co-Showrunner Joanna Calo. Jeremy Allen White’s lead performance is spectacular, as are those of his co-stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Lionel Boyce and Liza Colón-Zayas. We can’t wait to get to work on Season 2.”
“We are so grateful to FX, our insanely talented cast, our crew who worked hard, fast, and in the dead of winter, not to mention everyone who watched. And we can’t wait to bring you all back to The Bear in 2023,” Storer and Calo added.
\”The Bear” films in Chicago (the same setting as White’s other lauded TV show, “Shameless”). The pilot was filmed in the kitchen of a real restaurant, though each subsequent episode was taped on a soundstage. The Original Beef of Chicagoland, passed to Carmy via his brother Michael’s (Jon Bernthal) final wishes, will not have the same look in Season 2 — but we won’t spoil why.
In addition to White and the gang mentioned by Schrier, the series also stars Edwin Lee Gibson and Matty Matheson. The latter, a chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur, is also the show’s food consultant. Storer is the show’s creator. In addition to serving as co-showrunners, Storer and Calo also direct episodes.
Speaking of excellent directing, Hiro Murai of “Atlanta” is also an executive producer on “The Bear,” as is his “Station Eleven” colleague Nate Matteson. Josh Senior also serves as executive producer on the series by FX Prods.
All eight episodes of “The Bear” are now available on Hulu.
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