Lee Sung Jin wasn’t supposed to come back to Marvel. But when your best friend calls and the words X-Men are attached, apparently, all bets are off.
The Beef creator has been one of the most celebrated voices in prestige television over the last few years, and his creative partnership with director Jake Schreier has already produced some of the most talked-about work on Netflix. So when news broke that the duo would be reuniting for Marvel’s upcoming X-Men film, fans wanted to know how it happened. Now, Jin has answered that question directly.
The pairing feels significant. Schreier is already set to direct the project, and having Jin’s voice in the writers’ room signals that Marvel is bringing genuine creative ambition to one of the most iconic superhero teams in comics history. The X-Men have been dormant in live-action since Disney’s acquisition of Fox, and expectations from fans are sky-high for what the MCU reboot will look like.
Lee Sung Jin and Jake Schreier Reunite for Marvel’s X-Men
In a recent interview with Men’s Health Magazine, Jin was candid about where his head was at before the project came together.
“I wasn’t planning on doing another Marvel thing because I do have a lot I want to explore in my personal projects,” he said. “But Jake is one of my best friends, and when he comes calling with X-Men…come on, you drop everything for that. I grew up waking up every Saturday morning and turning on the cartoon. I watched every single episode. When they came back with X-Men 97, I devoured that. The original Claremont run of the comics is near and dear to my heart.”
It’s a refreshingly honest answer. Jin isn’t spinning it as some lifelong dream or carefully crafted career move. It was a friend, and it was X-Men. That combination was simply impossible to say no to.
“What I’m excited about with Jake’s vision for the X-Men—and [Marvel president Kevin Feige and co-president Lou D’Esposito] are fully aligned with his vision—is that he wants to get back to focusing on the characters first…We all love these characters. I’m excited, and I think true fans will be excited too. I don’t take it for granted. This is the privilege of a lifetime. It’s the coolest IP out there, in my opinion,” he added.
The two previously collaborated on Beef, where Schreier directed multiple episodes of the critically acclaimed Netflix limited series. Their working relationship clearly runs deep, and Jin’s instinct to follow that trust into uncharted franchise territory says a lot about the confidence they have in each other creatively.
What their specific collaboration on X-Men looks like hasn’t been fully detailed yet, but Jin’s involvement alone raises the ceiling on what this film could be. If Beef proved anything, it’s that he understands how to find raw humanity inside chaotic, high-stakes storytelling. That’s exactly what the X-Men, at their best, have always been about.
Marvel’s X-Men does not yet have a confirmed release date, but further casting and production news is expected to surface throughout the rest of 2026.