Is 'K-pop Demon Hunters' just a mashup of popular groups? Director spills the tea!

Time of India

20-06-2025

Ever since the teasers of '
K-pop Demon Hunters
' were shared online, fans from across the globe have come up with their speculations about who inspired the iconic characters of the film. Finally, director
Maggie Kang
is opening up about the behind-the-scenes deets of the show, from how it was made to who inspired it; she's ready to share it all!
Director of 'K-pop Demon Hunters' opens up about the film
Maggie Kang, the brains behind the film 'K-pop Demon Hunters', recently opened up about the much-anticipated project and shared some exclusive anecdotes about the film. In an interview with Forbes,
Kang
talked about how interesting it is to see fans fit their idols into the identities of the characters in the film.
'I think what I like to talk about is that there are so many certain archetypes that every group has. It's fun to see this conversation happening because everyone's picking the right member who fills that archetype and that kind of role and looks for each group,' the director shared.
She detailed that while no specific group or idol played a major role in the creation of the film, her upbringing surrounded by groups like H.O.T., Seo Taiji, the Boys, etc., became a major point of influence.
Kang and fellow director Appelhans opened up a digital bulletin board
Kang also detailed how she and her co-director,
Chris Appelhans
, opened up a digital bulletin board to add their favourite K-pop stars to draw inspiration from. They then later on gave access to their art department, which brought an interesting influx of different kinds of idols and bands.
Who played the inspiration behind 'The Saja Boys'?
One of the focal points in the film, the demon group '
The Saja Boys
', came from an amalgamation of a number of popular K-pop groups. The characters were inspired by groups like Tomorrow X Together, BTS,
Stray Kids
, ATEEZ, BIGBANG, and Monsta X.
She shared that while making the characters, she and her team kept in mind the basic idea surrounding the members of the group, i.e., the muscular member, the youngest member, the sweetest member, etc.
While the idea of the members took inspiration from K-pop, it was the character 'Mystery' that drew inspiration from anime instead. Kang shared how she was sceptical about the character; however, her team assured her and said, 'Trust us.' Along with this, the character 'Jinu' drew inspiration from Korean actors like Cha Eun Woo and
Nam Joo Hyuk
, as per Kang.
Inspiration behind the demon hunters 'Huntrix'
The female K-pop group featured in the film, '
Huntrix
', was inspired by modern-day girl groups. Kang stated in the interview that '[We looked at] ITZY, BLACKPINK, and [TWICE]. Who else? I think it was a lot of mixing.' Model Ahn So Yeon also became a major inspiration behind creating the character of Mira in the film.
The director then shared how even though all of the characters were inspired by idol groups, she worked hard on giving them all distinct and unique identifying characteristics. She shared that 'Even with the way we animated them, [they were different and distinct]. With their smile, you'll notice
Zoey
has more of a heart-shaped mouth when she expresses herself. We wanted Mira to be long and lean because I love that look on a woman. I think that's so beautiful. With
Rumi
, we leaned into a very classic, beautiful Korean look.'
KPop Demon Hunters | Official Trailer | Netflix