During his April 2026 cover story in the Spring 2026 digital issue of i-D magazine, Charles Melton dove into the grueling physical demands of filming the second season of Beef in South Korea.
The actor, who leans heavily into his background as a Division I college football player, described his preparation as an “all-out athletic camp,” but the intensity eventually took its toll.
While filming a high-stakes sequence for the Netflix series, Melton suffered a severe hamstring tear.
Rather than slowing down production, he opted for a cutting-edge regenerative treatment popular in South Korean sports medicine: PDRN (Polydeoxyribonucleotide) injections, commonly known as “salmon DNA shots.”
PDRN is derived from salmon sperm and is used to accelerate tissue repair and reduce inflammation. It’s a trendy “bio-hacking” treatment in Seoul, but Melton admitted he was initially skeptical of the “fishy” science.
Referring to the sheer volume of injections required to get him back on his feet, Melton quipped, “I had so much of it in my system that I told the crew, ‘Every time I squeezed my leg, caviar came out.'”
Despite the bizarre nature of the shots, he credited the treatment for allowing him to finish his own stunts. He noted that the injury actually helped him tap into the “frustrated, wounded” energy of his character, Austin Davis.
