KPop Demon Hunters | Read 10 Min

KPop Demon Hunters
Netflix release poster
Directed by	Maggie Kang Chris Appelhans
Screenplay by	Danya Jimenez Hannah McMechan Maggie Kang Chris Appelhans
Story by	Maggie Kang
Produced by	Michelle Wong
Starring	Arden Cho Ahn Hyo-seop May Hong Ji-young Yoo Yunjin Kim Daniel Dae Kim Ken Jeong Lee Byung-hun
Cinematography	Gary H. Lee

KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 American animated musical urban fantasy film co-written and directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans. Produced by Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix, the film stars the voices of Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Lee Byung-hun. The story follows a K-pop girl group, Huntrix, who lead double lives as demon hunters. They face off against a rival boy band, the Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons.

The film originated from Kang's desire to create a story inspired by her Korean heritage, drawing on elements of mythology, demonology, and K-pop to craft a visually distinct and culturally rooted film. Production began in March 2021. The look of the film was influenced by concert lighting, editorial photography, music videos, anime, and Korean dramas. The soundtrack includes original songs by several musicians and a score by Marcelo Zarvos.

The film began streaming on Netflix on June 20, 2025. By the end of the year, it became the most-watched original title in Netflix history, with over 325 million views. A sing-along version had limited theatrical releases on August 23–24 and October 31–November 2. Its theatrical release was the widest by number of theaters for a Netflix film, and the first to top the box office in the United States. The soundtrack was the first film soundtrack to have four songs in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and was certified double platinum in the US in October 2025.

KPop Demon Hunters received universal acclaim for its animation, visual style, voice acting, story, humor, and music. The recipient of many accolades, it won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song ("Golden") at both the 83rd Golden Globe Awards and the 98th Academy Awards, and won multiple awards at the 53rd Annie Awards. A sequel is in development.

Plot

Long ago, demons preyed on humans, feeding drained souls to their ruler, Gwi-Ma. In time, three women became demon hunters and used their singing voices to create a magical barrier against demons called the Honmoon. As time passed, new trios of hunters emerged to maintain the Honmoon, with the ultimate goal of strengthening it into the Golden Honmoon—a final seal that would permanently banish demons.

In the present, the K-pop girl group Huntrix—Rumi, Mira, and Zoey—are the latest demon-hunting trio. Rumi is secretly half-demon, a fact known only to her and former hunter Celine, who raised Rumi. Disquieted by the demonic patterns gradually spreading across her skin, Rumi pushes forward the release and live performance of Huntrix's new single, "Golden", hoping it will turn the Honmoon gold and thereby erase her patterns. However, as they prepare for the performance, Rumi begins to lose her voice.

In the demon world, Gwi-Ma grows enraged at his minions' failures. Led by Jinu, a human-turned-demon, five demons form a boy band, the Saja Boys, to steal Huntrix's fans and weaken the Honmoon, in exchange for Gwi-Ma promising to erase Jinu's painful human memories. Watching their debut, Huntrix quickly discover the Saja Boys' demonic nature and later attack them. As they fight, Jinu discovers Rumi's patterns, but helps hide them from her bandmates. Meeting privately, he tells her that feelings of shame enslave demons through voices from Gwi-Ma: 400 years prior, Gwi-Ma granted him fame and recognition that helped his family escape poverty, but then condemned him to the demon world; Jinu now lives with guilt over his family's downfall.

The Saja Boys grow more popular, weakening the Honmoon and allowing more demon attacks to occur. With the Idol Awards approaching, Huntrix rush to produce a new song, "Takedown", to expose the Saja Boys. Rumi's discomfort with the song's harsh, demon-hating lyrics strains her relationship with Mira and Zoey. Rumi proposes a plan to Jinu: if he helps Huntrix win the awards and strengthen the Honmoon, he could freely stay in the human world. Later, she tells him her shame about her demon heritage weakened her voice, but talking with him healed it. Jinu says he no longer hears voices, thanks likewise to Rumi, and agrees to sabotage the Saja Boys. Gwi-Ma summons Jinu, reminds him he in fact abandoned his family for a life of wealth and comfort, then threatens to amplify the tormenting voices if he reneges on their deal.

At the Idol Awards, Huntrix perform "Golden", having shelved "Takedown" due to the contention it caused between them. However, impostor demons lure Mira and Zoey away from Rumi, while two other demons impersonate them to trick Rumi into performing "Takedown", during which they reveal her patterns. She flees the stage and runs into the real Mira and Zoey, who feel betrayed upon learning of her demonic nature and collusion with Jinu. Realizing his betrayal, Rumi confronts Jinu who admits to lying about his past. Gwi-Ma, strengthened by the influx of consumed souls and decaying Honmoon, enters the human world and casts a trance over the public, drawing them to a Saja Boys performance set to feed him more souls. A desperate Rumi meets with Celine and asks her to end her life. Celine refuses and discusses plans to restore the previous status quo. Rumi lashes out at Celine for never fully loving her and repudiates the now-destroyed Honmoon before leaving.

Rumi interrupts the Saja Boys' performance with an improvised song addressing her shame and self-acceptance, breaking Mira and Zoey out of Gwi-Ma's trance. Reunited, Huntrix fight back and free the crowd. A repentant Jinu sacrifices himself to save Rumi from an attack by Gwi-Ma, giving his restored soul to reinforce her; the empowered Huntrix defeat Gwi-Ma and the remaining Saja Boys, resealing the demons and creating a new rainbow Honmoon. No longer ashamed of her patterns, Rumi celebrates with Mira and Zoey. Afterwards, they meet their fans in public.

Voice cast

Arden Cho as Rumi, the lead vocalist and leader of Huntrix, who wields a saingeom sword in combat. Rumi is the daughter of a demon father and a deceased demon hunter mother.
- Ejae provides Rumi's singing voice.
- Rumi Oak as young Rumi.
May Hong as Mira, the main dancer of Huntrix, who wields a gokdo polearm in combat. She comes from a wealthy background and is considered the black sheep of her family due to her rebellious nature.
- Audrey Nuna provides Mira's singing voice.
Ji-young Yoo as Zoey, the main rapper and lyricist of Huntrix, and the group's maknae. She wields shinkal throwing knives in combat. Zoey is Korean American and was raised in Burbank, California.
- Rei Ami provides Zoey's singing voice.
Ahn Hyo-seop as Jinu, leader of the Saja Boys and Rumi's love interest. He is accompanied by a blue pet tiger and a six-eyed magpie.
- Andrew Choi provides Jinu's singing voice.
Yunjin Kim as Celine, a former demon hunter and K-pop idol who fostered Rumi following her mother's death.
- Lea Salonga provides Celine's singing voice.
Joel Kim Booster as Romance Saja
- Samuil Lee provides Romance Saja's singing voice.
Alan Lee as Mystery Saja
- Kevin Woo provides Mystery Saja's singing voice.
SungWon Cho as Abby Saja
- Neckwav provides Abby Saja's singing voice.
Danny Chung as Baby Saja
Daniel Dae Kim as Healer Han, an eccentric doctor.
Ken Jeong as Bobby, the energetic agent and manager of Huntrix.
Lee Byung-hun as Gwi-Ma, the king of demons, who takes the form of a giant fiery mouth. Lee reprises the role in the Korean dub of the film.

Liza Koshy voices a television host who interviews Huntrix. Maggie Kang, Nathan Schauf, and Charlene Ramos provide additional voices.

Production

Development

Director Maggie Kang first pitched the idea that eventually became KPop Demon Hunters to film producer Aron Warner in 2018, during which period he was working on Wish Dragon (2021) for Sony Pictures Animation. Development on the film began that same year, and on March 8, 2021, Sony publicly announced the film, under the working title K-Pop: Demon Hunters. Kang and Chris Appelhans would direct from a script by Hannah McMechan and Danya Jimenez, and Warner and Michelle L. M. Wong would serve as producers. Mingjue Helen Chen and Ami Thompson were announced as production designer and art director, respectively.

To distinguish its visual style from contemporary animated features, Kang based the film on Korean mythology and shamanism. She called the film her "love letter to K-pop" and to her Korean background. Kang explained that when developing the history of the demon hunters, they decided to play into Korean shamanism, and specifically the historical usage of song and dance as part of the rituals of Korean shaman women. On character design, Kang said she wanted to differentiate the main characters from "Marvel female superheroes that were just sexy and cool and badass" and instead combine those elements with "girls who had potbellies and burped and were crass and silly and fun". She was also influenced by the films of Bong Joon Ho, which she said would combine multiple tones in a way that evokes animation. She and Appelhans cited Bong's monster movie The Host (2006) as an inspiration for blending genres and moods. Appelhans had planned to take a long break after directing Wish Dragon, but came on board after Kang told him her initial ideas. He said that he "always wanted to do a film about the power of music—to unite, bring joy, build community". McMechan and Jimenez were approached to write by Nicole Perlman; McMechan told Variety that though the two "had never done animation before, and we didn't know anything about K-pop", they were "exactly what [co-director] Maggie [Kang] had been looking for, with our friendship and us being young girls".

Character design

The name Huntrix portmanteaus hunter with the Latin feminine agent noun suffix -trix, to evoke the idea of women warriors. The three members of Huntrix were modeled after K-pop girl groups like Itzy, Blackpink, Twice, and 2NE1. The fashion and makeup of the characters took inspiration from Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Alexander McQueen, with a focus on "infusing Korean traditional elements with haute couture". The character of Rumi was created in 2016 by Kang and her husband, Radford Sechrist, for Sechrist's comic Plastic Walrus; Kang repurposed it for KPop Demon Hunters. The character of Mira was inspired by Korean model Ahn So Yeon (professionally known as Ellis Ahn).

The Saja Boys were inspired by Korean boy bands such as Tomorrow X Together, BTS, Stray Kids, Ateez, BigBang, and Monsta X. Korean actor and singer Cha Eun-woo was a key influence for Jinu, the group's leader. Additionally, Kai of the Korean boy band Exo served as a reference for Jinu's facial expressions. The names of the members of the Saja Boys, with the exception of Jinu, reflect K-pop archetypes. The term Saja also alludes to the jeoseung saja (Korean: 저승사자; Hanja: 저승使者), a figure in Korean folklore comparable to the Grim Reaper, and to the Korean word for lion, saja (사자; 獅子); the Saja Boys' logo uses a lion head and the band's fandom is called "the Pride".

Baek Byung-yeul of The Korea Times said the styling of both groups connects to "the past and the present of Korea": the members of Huntrix "wear norigae pendants integrated into modern K-pop fashion, while Saja Boys perform in black hanbok and traditional horsehair hats for their song 'Your Idol,' evoking the image of the jeoseung saja". Huntrix members wield traditional Korean weapons. Max Kim of the Los Angeles Times noted the nods to Korean artists "who are seen today as the progenitors of contemporary K-pop" such as the Jeogori Sisters, The Kim Sisters and S.E.S. Kang described the visual journey in the character design such as the Saja Boys starting in a "bubble gum pop, very saccharine, super sweet look" and shifting darker until they fully take on the appearance of the jeoseung saja. Appelhans said Huntrix's costumes when performing "Golden" symbolize "their kind of MacGuffin of a dream", aspiring for perfection and irreproachability; the tearing away of Rumi's costume at the end of the film's second act represents the disruption of that dream. Appelhans said he wanted the workings of K-pop to be reflected within the film and its plot.