The Cast of ‘The Bear’Brings the Heat

As we prepare for the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards, Backstage is breaking down this year’s film and television ensemble work for your consideration. For more voting guides and roundups, we’ve got you covered here.

Main Cast: Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Edwin Lee Gibson, Molly Gordon, Corey Hendrix, Matty Matheson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Oliver Platt, Robert Townsend, Jeremy Allen White 
Casting by: Jeanie and Maggie Bacharach 
Created by: Christopher Storer 
Distributed by: FX on Hulu

It’s hard to believe anything could top the first season of Christopher Storer’s restaurant drama, which lit up the small screen last year like a flambé torch. But Season 2 said, “Hold my soufflé”—not by ramping up the frantic energy of the first installment, but by giving its characters a break from the heat of the kitchen so they could take a step back and reflect on what they truly want from their lives.

Following the discovery of a secret trove of cash on the Season 1 finale, the Original Beefers have temporarily shuttered their beloved neighborhood sandwich joint to transform it into something else entirely: the fine-dining establishment of their dreams. 

This period of respite is especially hard on Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), a deeply broken haute cuisine chef who has turned avoidance into an art. Meanwhile, his business partner, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri), is wearing herself down in her quest for culinary excellence, and his “cousin” Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is leaning further into his impotent rage.

Our three main players are excellent when given the opportunity to truly let their characters breathe. SAG winner White digs down into Carmy as he explores life outside the kitchen and embarks on a tentative romance with his childhood crush, Claire (Molly Gordon). He’s the personification of trauma when he tells his Al-Anon group that he’s terrified to feel hopeful because “there is always another shoe” waiting to drop. 

Meanwhile, Edebiri pulls us into Sydney’s passion for her chosen career, every inch the ambitious young chef who’s been given the chance to live out her dream. Witness her striving for perfection in her home kitchen, then reminding herself why she fell in love with food in the first place on a whirlwind tour of Chicago’s tastiest restaurants. 

Moss-Bachrach does some of the season’s most beautiful work on the standout episode “Forks,” in which Richie goes on a reluctant journey of self-actualization when Carmy sends him to apprentice at a Michelin-starred restaurant. It’s a stunning performance that will make you believe in the power of epiphany. 

But “The Bear” is nothing if not an ensemble show, and the cast members only deepen their performances this season. This is particularly true of Lionel Boyce as budding pastry chef Marcus, who steps into the spotlight on “Honeydew” when he travels to Copenhagen to train under Carmy’s former colleague (Will Poulter). It’s the season’s most meditative episode, and that’s largely down to Boyce’s quietly gorgeous performance as a shy man venturing into the wider world.

And we’d be remiss not to mention “Fishes,” an episode that’s destined to go down as one of the greatest in TV history. Over the course of a truly cursed Christmas dinner, we see the origin of the demons that plague Carmy and his sister, Natalie (Abby Elliott), in the form of their mentally ill mother—portrayed by Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis in a tornado of a performance. “Fishes” is a who’s-who of guest stars, among them Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, and Jon Bernthal. But they’re ultimately here to support White and Elliott’s haunted and haunting performances as they tie themselves in knots to survive their family’s emotional minefield.

There’s more we could say about stunning supporting performances from Liza Colón-Zayas, Matty Matheson, and Edwin Lee Gibson, because there’s no end of praise to be heaped upon a season of television this good. “The Bear” starts with great writing, but it takes an ensemble this talented to make it cook with gas.