‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Administrators on Assembly Fan Expectations and Championing Authentic, Inclusive Animation

When Sony Photos Animation first introduced KPop Demon Hunters again in 2021, director, author, and longtime Ok-pop devotee Maggie Kang (The Lego Ninjago Film) envisioned the mission as each a love letter to the early days of the style she grew up with and a vibrant celebration of Korean tradition. Teaming up with co-director Chris Appelhans (Want Dragon), Kang got down to craft a movie that merges the dazzling precision of Ok-pop choreography with the spectacle of magical lady motion, all wrapped up in an unique animated journey premiering on Netflix on June 20.

KPop Demon Hunters follows Huntrix, a rising lady group made up of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey (voiced by Arden Cho, Could Hong, and Ji-young Yoo), as they juggle their pop superstardom with their secret lives battling demons invading the human realm beneath the command of the sinister Gwi-Ma (performed by Squid Recreation‘s Lee Byung-hun). To forestall the women from enveloping the world within the therapeutic mild of their music, he concocts the one plan that might threaten the loyalty of their diehard fanbase: a rival supernatural boyband known as the Saja Boys.

Earlier than the movie’s launch, io9 spoke with Kang and Appelhands about how they balanced the expectations of Ok-pop superfans, magical lady fans, and animation lovers, in addition to their hopes for the way their unique movie may encourage a brand new wave of mythmakers within the animation trade.

Isaiah Colbert, io9: What sparked the concept of merging the world of Ok-Pop idols with demon searching? Was there a defining second or inspiration that led to this distinctive fusion of music and supernatural motion?

Maggie Kang: It was first conceived as only a demon hunter concept that was a bunch of actually superior girls who fought demons from Korean demonology—a film that was set in modern-day Korea. The Ok-pop of all of it was type of the very last thing to be added in as a result of demon searching is often achieved at midnight alleyways. Not in entrance of individuals. I simply needed the women to have a public-facing picture and Ok-pop felt like a cool factor to set the film in. It naturally made it a musical and gave it that spectacle and scale.

Monitor 01: “The way it’s Accomplished”. Carried out by HUNTRIX!

Kpop Demon Hunters premieres THIS FRIDAY! pic.twitter.com/U3y6Cq23CH

— Netflix (@netflix) June 16, 2025

io9: Clearly with that title KPop Demon Hunters does set a excessive expectations for each electrifying motion and dynamic dance sequences as effectively. KPop Demon Hunters naturally carries lots of stress, particularly for Ok-pop followers eagerly anticipating it. How did the staff navigate that problem and make sure the movie delivered on each fronts?

Kang: It was powerful. It’s a really loyal, devoted fanbase that expects loads on each facet. Whether or not it’s design, lighting, animation, we made positive that it will maintain as much as what we see in Ok-pop at the moment. The dance observe movies that we see are so good already. It was like “How will we take what’s so nice that they’re doing as actual people [and] carry it into animation and elevate that?” Even with some Ok-drama lighting and music video lighting is so lovely. It was a problem to carry it into the animation medium and be like, “Okay, they’ve achieved all this wonderful stuff. How will we take it one step additional?” It was lots of first determining how do they do it at the moment and the way we are able to take it up a notch as a result of we’re animation.

Chris Appelhans: I believe Maggie actually early on stated all of us love Ok-pop and if we attempt to make it for our personal fandom—let’s discover lighting that we expect is wonderful, and choreo that we love, and go “Dude, that’s so good”—that’s the most trustworthy, genuine approach to make the film. And, if we’re fortunate, the opposite individuals who love Ok-pop will find it irresistible too. However that’s all we may management and that was really actually useful as a result of it felt like you would go and have a look at nice music movies and be impressed by, “That is the type of editorial lighting that I all the time love and all the time needed to see in animation. I’m impressed to go get our lighting staff to go elevate their sport to carry this degree to the fabric.” I really feel prefer it’s what you stated, a love letter from the medium we all know rather well. We all know this particular stuff which you can’t do, additionally.

Kang: Watching it as followers ourselves and eager to push the medium,[and] being our harshest critics.

One of the vital troublesome issues to do for us Simulation Artists is to create dynamic motion in jewellery items.
In these outfits Rumi has greater than 35 particular person items of bijou from earrings to chains.
¿Most advanced piece? Mira’s shoulder tassels !!
KPOP DH June 20! pic.twitter.com/yuNFVAqBtt

— Cruz Contreras (@cruzencanada) June 8, 2025

io9: What was probably the most thrilling second in directing KPop Demon Hunters, the place you hit an eureka second in manufacturing once you really felt you had been bringing one thing distinctive and particular to life?

Appelhans: In phases. Totally different scenes delivered a special a part of the promise. I keep in mind Maggie performing some actually humorous reference movies for one of many ladies’ conversations and seeing in animation every day—that precise comedy exhibits up in our characters—and I’m like, “Oh my god, the women are going to be actually cute, and lovely, and peculiar.” And the primary time seeing nice choreo and animation. A few of our Korean animators did some stuff that we didn’t even ask for, they simply took it and ran with it, and we obtained the butterflies. Like, “Test, oh my gosh. We are able to do that.” We stored checking bins that had been a part of this entire bold soup.

Kang: Much like me, too. Discovering the form language of even their eyes and mouth shapes on a Korean face, we needed the expressions to really feel very Korean and the women’ mouth shapes to really feel like they’re talking Korean, although they had been talking within the English language. One of many options we discovered—one in all our wonderful animators Sofia [Seung Hee Lee]—found out rounding the corners of the mouth was actually useful in them really feel that method. These type of milestones of determining sure languages for design and magnificence actually cracked these issues.

Appelhans: Each time we heard the model of a music that we lastly felt was doing it—whether or not it was the third strive or the ninth strive—when a music actually began to hit and we might really feel it in our guts, that was all the time like, “Oh my gosh, we did it. Yet one more piece to the puzzle” as a result of that’s so elusive—a pop music that’s really a bop.

My solely contribution to KPOP Demon Hunter. Screaming characters appears to be my factor.

Congrats to the remainder of the arduous working crew of this film! @sonyanimation pic.twitter.com/z48xJsLSpN

— Guillermo Martinez (@billybobmartinz) May 24, 2025

io9: Talking of pop songs, the movie additionally options contributions from the gifted members of Twice. How did you strategy collaborating with Ok-pop artists to carry the musical parts of KPop Demon Hunters to life? What was the method of making certain the soundtrack not solely energized the movie but in addition complemented its emotional core?

Kang: It was actually essential for your complete film to stay in that Ok-pop house. And collaborating with an precise Ok-pop artist felt prefer it lastly legitimized our mission within the Ok-pop world. Working with Black Label and all these wonderful pop writers that write for BTS, Twice, and in the end collaborating with Twice. Ian Eisendrath, who’s our government music producer, and Sony Music actually needed this album to really feel like an actual, legit Ok-pop album, so that they introduced this wonderful staff collectively and created an album that may maintain up within the Ok-pop house.

io9: Recently, animated movies like Turning Pink and Ultraman: Rising have demonstrated the ability of animation as each a storytelling medium and a bridge into beloved fandoms, similar to Ok-pop and Tokusatsu. These movies not solely rejoice vibrant animation and produce life to pre-existing fandoms but in addition middle Asian heritage and permit characters to middle of their genuine narratives. What was most essential in balancing the worldwide enchantment of Ok-pop with the importance of Asian-led tales instructed by Asian characters?

Kang: One approach to reply that’s that in animation, we’ve instructed lots of tales about inanimate objects [and] totally different animals. And we’ve but to inform tales which can be culturally particular by way of a special cultural voice that can be very common. It’s actually promising that we’re seeing extra movies and animation which can be instructed by way of a special cultural lens. It’s actually essential to attempt to function as a lot range as doable in animation as a result of, primarily, it’s nonetheless considered a medium for extra of a youthful viewers. We have now all these totally different movies globally that exhibiting us that and it appears like we’re probably not doing that fairly but in animation. I believe that’s one thing that we actually want to present extra range at this stage in animation.

Appelhans: What I’ve seen in my 25 years doing that is how rather more various the precise day-to-day crews are and the expertise, and meaning the whole lot. As a result of when Maggie exhibits up with an unique thought, there are extremely skilled and gifted Korean artists in each division, they usually don’t should do any homework. It’s their lived expertise they bring about, their influences, their favourite issues that formed them as artists. That permits us to make extra attention-grabbing, extra unique movies than what may’ve been doable 25 years in the past. It’s type of taking place beneath the hood, however it’s actually promising and thrilling.

io9: What do you hope audiences and your fellow inventive colleagues in animation take away from experiencing KPop Demon Hunters eager to share this common story with the world?

Kang: There’s nothing like movie that exhibits that it doesn’t matter what language you communicate, what tradition you grew up in, regardless of if you’re a demon, a chair, or a toy doll, all people feels the identical issues as human beings. Telling tales with characters that emote in a really Korean method and communicate wanting very Korean, I hope that audiences and filmmakers can see that all of us in the end are human and we really feel and need the identical issues which is love and acceptance

KPop Demon Hunters streams on Netflix beginning June 20.

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