‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Administrators on...

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 venture 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 authentic 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, 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 ladies from enveloping the world within the therapeutic mild of their music, he concocts the one plan that would 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 lady lovers, and animation lovers, in addition to their hopes for the way their authentic movie would possibly 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 looking? 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 type of the very last thing to be added in as a result of demon looking is normally accomplished at nighttime alleyways. Not in entrance of individuals. I simply needed the ladies 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 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 nicely. KPop Demon Hunters naturally carries a number 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 quite a bit on each side. Whether or not it’s design, lighting, animation, we made positive that it might maintain as much as what we see in Ok-pop right this moment. The dance apply 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 stunning. It was a problem to carry it into the animation medium and be like, “Okay, they’ve accomplished all this wonderful stuff. How will we take it one step additional?” It was a number of first determining how do they do it at the moment 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 wonderful, and choreo that we love, and go “Dude, that’s so good”—that’s the most trustworthy, genuine strategy 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 really actually useful as a result of it felt like you may go and take 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 recreation to carry this stage to the fabric.” I really feel prefer it’s what you stated, a love letter from the medium we all know very well. We all know this particular stuff you could’t do, additionally.

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

One of the tough 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 if you really felt you have been bringing one thing distinctive and particular to life?

Appelhans: In levels. Totally different scenes delivered a special a part of the promise. I keep in mind Maggie doing a little actually humorous reference movies for one of many ladies’ conversations and seeing in animation every day—that actual comedy exhibits up in our characters—and I’m like, “Oh my god, the ladies are going to be actually cute, and lovable, 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 only took it and ran with it, and we bought the butterflies. Like, “Examine, oh my gosh. We will do that.” We saved checking containers 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 needed the expressions to really feel very Korean and the ladies’ mouth shapes to really feel like they’re talking Korean, though they have been talking within the English language. One of many options we discovered—certainly one of our wonderful animators Sofia [Seung Hee Lee]—found out rounding the corners of the mouth was actually useful in them really feel that means. 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 attempt or the ninth attempt—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. Another 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 laborious 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 method 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 necessary for your entire film to dwell in that Ok-pop area. And collaborating with an precise Ok-pop artist felt prefer it lastly legitimized our venture 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 area.

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, equivalent to Ok-pop and Tokusatsu. These movies not solely have a good time vibrant animation and convey life to pre-existing fandoms but in addition middle Asian heritage and permit characters to middle of their genuine narratives. What was most necessary in balancing the worldwide enchantment of Ok-pop with the importance of Asian-led tales informed by Asian characters?

Kang: One strategy to reply that’s that in animation, we’ve informed a number of tales about inanimate objects [and] completely different animals. And we’ve but to inform tales which can be culturally particular by way of a special cultural voice that may also be very common. It’s actually promising that we’re seeing extra movies and animation which can be informed by way of a special cultural lens. It’s actually necessary to attempt to function as a lot range as potential in animation as a result of, primarily, it’s nonetheless considered a medium for extra of a youthful viewers. We now have all these completely different movies globally that exhibiting us that and it looks like we’re not likely doing that fairly but in animation. I feel that’s one thing that we actually want to offer extra range at this stage in animation.

Appelhans: What I’ve seen in my 25 years doing that is how far more numerous the precise day-to-day crews are and the expertise, and meaning all the pieces. As a result of when Maggie exhibits up with an authentic concept, there are extremely skilled and gifted Korean artists in each division, and so they 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 fascinating, extra authentic movies than what may’ve been potential 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, irrespective 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 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.

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