When Sony Footage 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 woman motion, all wrapped up in an authentic animated journey premiering on Netflix on June 20.
KPop Demon Hunters follows Huntrix, a rising woman group made up of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey (voiced by Arden Cho, Might 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 Sport‘s Lee Byung-hun). To stop 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 referred to 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 woman fans, and animation lovers, in addition to their hopes for a way their authentic 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 gaggle 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 form of the very last thing to be added in as a result of demon searching is often executed at the hours of darkness alleyways. Not in entrance of individuals. I simply wished 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.
Observe 01: “The way it’s Executed”. 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 nicely. KPop Demon Hunters naturally carries quite a lot 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 robust. It’s a really loyal, devoted fanbase that expects loads on each side. Whether or not it’s design, lighting, animation, we made certain that it could maintain as much as what we see in Ok-pop at this time. The dance follow movies that we see are so good already. It was like “How can we take what’s so nice that they’re doing as actual people [and] deliver it into animation and elevate that?” Even with some Ok-drama lighting and music video lighting is so stunning. It was a problem to deliver it into the animation medium and be like, “Okay, they’ve executed all this superb stuff. How can we take it one step additional?” It was quite a lot of first determining how do they do it presently and the way we will take it up a notch as a result of we’re animation.
Chris Appelhans: I feel 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 superb, 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 like it too. However that’s all we may management and that was truly actually useful as a result of it felt like you can go and take a look at nice music movies and be impressed by, “That is the form of editorial lighting that I all the time love and all the time wished to see in animation. I’m impressed to go get our lighting staff to go elevate their sport to deliver 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 that you could’t do, additionally.
Kang: Watching it as followers ourselves and desirous to push the medium,[and] being our harshest critics.
One of the 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 knickknack 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 essentially the most thrilling second in directing KPop Demon Hunters, the place you hit an eureka second in manufacturing while you really felt you have been bringing one thing distinctive and particular to life?
Appelhans: In levels. Completely different scenes delivered a special a part of the promise. I bear in mind Maggie doing a little actually humorous reference movies for one of many women’ 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 bizarre.” 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 only took it and ran with it, and we acquired the butterflies. Like, “Examine, oh my gosh. We are able to do that.” We saved checking bins that have been a part of this complete formidable soup.
Kang: Much like me, too. Discovering the form language of even their eyes and mouth shapes on a Korean face, we wished the expressions to really feel very Korean and the women’ mouth shapes to really feel like they’re talking Korean, despite the fact that they have been talking within the English language. One of many options we discovered—certainly one of our superb animators Sofia [Seung Hee Lee]—discovered rounding the corners of the mouth was actually useful in them really feel that means. These form of milestones of determining sure languages for design and elegance actually cracked these issues.
Appelhans: Each time we heard the model of a track that we lastly felt was doing it—whether or not it was the third attempt or the ninth attempt—when a track 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. Another piece to the puzzle” as a result of that’s so elusive—a pop track that’s truly a bop.
My solely contribution to KPOP Demon Hunter. Screaming characters appears to be my factor.
Congrats to the remainder of the onerous 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 proficient members of Twice. How did you strategy collaborating with Ok-pop artists to deliver the musical parts of KPop Demon Hunters to life? What was the method of making certain the soundtrack not solely energized the movie but additionally complemented its emotional core?
Kang: It was actually vital for your complete film to stay in that Ok-pop area. 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 superb 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 wished this album to really feel like an actual, legit Ok-pop album, in order that they introduced this superb staff collectively and created an album that may maintain up within the Ok-pop area.
io9: Recently, animated movies like Turning Purple and Ultraman: Rising have demonstrated the facility 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 convey life to pre-existing fandoms but additionally heart Asian heritage and permit characters to heart of their genuine narratives. What was most vital in balancing the worldwide attraction of Ok-pop with the importance of Asian-led tales informed by Asian characters?
Kang: One approach to reply that’s that in animation, we’ve informed quite a lot of tales about inanimate objects [and] totally different animals. And we’ve but to inform tales which might be culturally particular by a special cultural voice that can be very common. It’s actually promising that we’re seeing extra movies and animation which might be informed by a special cultural lens. It’s actually vital to attempt to characteristic as a lot variety as doable in animation as a result of, primarily, it’s nonetheless considered a medium for extra of a youthful viewers. We now have all these totally different movies globally that exhibiting us that and it appears like we’re not likely doing that fairly but in animation. I feel that’s one thing that we actually want to provide extra variety 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 authentic thought, there are extremely skilled and proficient Korean artists in each division, they usually don’t need to do any homework. It’s their lived expertise they convey, their influences, their favourite issues that formed them as artists. That permits us to make extra attention-grabbing, extra authentic movies than what may’ve been doable 25 years in the past. It’s form of occurring 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 desirous 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, everyone feels the identical issues as human beings. Telling tales with characters that emote in a really Korean means and communicate trying 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.
Need extra io9 information? Take a look at when to anticipate the most recent Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and the whole lot you want to learn about the way forward for Doctor Who.
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