‘KPop Demon Hunters' Director Reveals Who Inspired The Characters

When Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters teaser trailer and images were first released, many K-pop fans began speculating who the K-pop idols in the film looked like. There have been several side-by-side comparisons, with fandoms claiming that these characters were based on their idols.
Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters, out this Friday, revolves around a K-pop girl group named Huntrix, who are also demon hunters sworn to protect their fans from supernatural threats. Things become complicated when a popular rival boy band, The Saja Boys, are revealed to be demons.
Director Maggie Kang, who grew up loving the first generation of K-pop, with groups like H.O.T. and Seo Taiji and the Boys, has seen all the comparisons on social media. Though she never named exactly who the characters were inspired by, she could see how the fans' suggestions matched perfectly with the characters.
'I think what I like to talk about is that there are so many certain archetypes that every group has,' says Kang. '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.'
Kang and her directing partner, Chris Appelhans, pulled their favorites onto the digital bulletin board. Many in the art department added their favorites to the board. She says once she gave the department access to the bulletin board, everybody was on it. She saw so many different actors, idols, and groups on there.
The Saja Boys, comprising members Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), Abby, Mystery, Romance, and Baby, were inspired by Korean groups such as Tomorrow X Together, BTS, Stray Kids, ATEEZ, BIGBANG, and Monsta X. There's always a muscular one who shows off their abs; one who was the romantic type ('I purposely gave him these bangs that were meant to be heart-shaped'); and, the baby of the group.
'Baby Saja is, obviously, the maknae (youngest),' Kang explains. '[They] have this look and they're usually the rapper of the group.'
The only member whom Kang couldn't recall comparing to an artist was Mystery, whose face is mostly obscured by his long, purple hair. He was inspired by anime. When Kang asked her team why he doesn't have a face, they told her to 'trust us.'
'That's just a question mark,' Kang laughs. 'It was also just a challenge to animate five faces versus four. So that also helped with the animation as well.'
Kang and her animation team created boards for each character, alongside images of idols, models, and well-known actors. Though the Saja boys were given their own individual, distinct looks, they all have one thing in common.
'Fun fact: they all share the same CG body, except for Abby Saja, because he's a little bit bigger,' Kang explains. 'We bulked him up like 20%.'
Kang did admit that the character of Jinu was inspired mainly by K-drama actors. She names Cha Eun-woo and Nam Joo-hyuk as the leading men on the inspiration boards. They wanted him to have a very classic Korean look, which is why he had dark hair. Though Ahn was cast as the voice of Jinu, the character was created before he signed on for the part, but Kang does see the similarities with his Business Proposal character.
As for the three members of Huntrix – Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, Kang says they referenced K-pop idols and models. Kang has worked on Rumi for many years, but her appearance has changed slightly to reflect the animation and Korean lighting.
'[We looked at] ITZY, BLACKPINK, and [TWICE],' says Kang. 'Who else? I think it was a lot of mixing.'
Kang reveals that Korean model Ahn So Yeon inspired the fashion-forward character, Mira. Kang, who is a fan of the model, says it 'might be kind of obvious [when you look at Mira]'. For Zoey, Kang wanted a cutesy vibe for the character. Many K–pop idols were referenced for her look.
Kang's main goal for Huntrx was that they all looked very different from each other. She focused on each of them having their distinct look, aside from their hair color.
'Even with the way we animated them, [they were different and distinct],' says Kang. '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.'
Kang does enjoy the conversations surrounding the animated looks of her characters. She jokes, 'Yeah, we knew we [wanted them to be] hot.'
KPop Demon Hunters premieres this Friday on Netflix.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Business Upturn

8 minutes ago

• Business Upturn

Running Point Season 2: Release date speculation, cast and plot details – Everything we know so far

By Aman Shukla Published on June 20, 2025, 18:00 IST Last updated June 20, 2025, 11:09 IST Netflix's sports comedy series Running Point took the streaming world by storm with its hilarious take on basketball, family drama, and workplace chaos. Starring Kate Hudson as Isla Gordon, the show's debut season, which premiered on February 27, 2025, left fans buzzing with its cliffhanger finale and star-studded ensemble. With Season 2 officially confirmed, here's everything we know so far about the Running Point Season 2. Running Point Season 2 Release Date Speculation Netflix announced the renewal of Running Point for a second season on March 6, 2025, just a week after its premiere, marking one of the streamer's fastest renewals for a freshman series. While an official release date hasn't been confirmed, production timelines for similar Netflix comedies suggest a potential premiere in early 2026, likely between February and April, assuming production is already underway. Running Point Season 2 Cast: Who's Returning? The core cast of Running Point is expected to return, bringing back the dysfunctional yet lovable Gordon family and their Los Angeles Waves basketball team. Confirmed cast members include: Kate Hudson as Isla Gordon, the reformed party girl turned team president, who will continue navigating leadership challenges. Brenda Song as Ali Lee, Isla's best friend and Waves chief of staff, a fan-favorite for her sharp wit. Drew Tarver as Sandy Gordon, Isla's younger half-brother and the team's CFO. Scott MacArthur as Ness Gordon, Isla's older brother and general manager. Justin Theroux as Cam Gordon, whose rivalry with Isla over the presidency is set to escalate. Fabrizio Guido as Jackie Moreno, a key team member. Scott Evans as Charlie, a vital part of the ensemble. Toby Sandeman as Marcus Winfield, a Waves player. Dane DiLiegro as Badrag, another key player. Uche Agada as Dyson, rounding out the team's roster. Running Point Season 2 Potential Plot Running Point Season 1 ended with major cliffhangers, setting the stage for a dramatic second season. Spoiler Warning for Season 1: The Los Angeles Waves made it to the playoffs but lost in game seven, leaving the team's future uncertain. Isla proved herself as president, but her brother Cam's scheming—spreading rumors to undermine her—sets up a fierce sibling rivalry. Coach Jay's impending move to Boston and his kiss with Isla add romantic tension, while Travis Bugg's rehab stint leaves his arc open-ended. Season 2 is expected to dive deeper into the Gordon family conflict, particularly the battle between Isla and Cam for control of the Waves. The show, loosely inspired by Lakers president Jeanie Buss (an executive producer), will likely continue blending real-world sports drama with comedy. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at

Cosmopolitan

17 minutes ago

• Cosmopolitan

'Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders' Season 3 Spoilers

Settle in if you watched season two of America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in one sitting, and are impatiently waiting for Netflix to drop news about season three. Good news: we have spoilers. Turns out auditions and training camp for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are happening literally right now, and the DCC's official Instagram page has already revealed a) who all the rookies are, and b) who made it to training camp. First up: Kacey Musgraves joined the DCC as a judge during auditions, which, amazing. And the DCC went ahead and dropped a post revealing literally all the rookie candidates who made it through auditions: Plus, they shared a group pic from this year's training camp: We also know that Dayton auditioned again this season, and—based on her not being in the above group photo—was once again cut. She commented on a fan's post about the sad news, writing "It wasn't in the cards for me, but I'm proud of how much i've grown. I feel it's important to note I did EVERYTHING they asked of me and tried my absolute best to fit their mold. I'm not wanted there and I'm hoping this takes me to where I truly belong!" Dayton's mom Shelly (who works for DCC) also spoke out, saying "Dayton's mom here…I don't usually comment on any posts regarding her journey, but your words are kind. Her light is bright and will shine elsewhere! She's beautiful, talented but more importantly, she has a soft, humble spirit. She took the advice to train and do all the things asked of her. She's stronger for doing so, even if the results weren't in her favor. God has something better for her, we will wait to see where He leads. 🤍" TBD on if Netflix is filming this season's training camp and auditions, but fingers crossed because gonna need Kelli and Judy to explain themselves re Dayton not making the team!

The Verge

28 minutes ago

• The Verge

Astro Bot's director on making a PlayStation icon

Astro Bot is filled with whimsy and silliness that makes you want to pay attention to the details. But in a presentation at this year's Game Developers Conference, director Nicolas Doucet shared one particular aspect of Astro the robot that I hadn't noticed but blew me away. Doucet talked about how Team Asobi worked hard to give the game a good tempo with things like enemy placement and how you can interact with Astro's spaceship with the DualSense's gyro controls on loading screens. One thing that kept the momentum going was Astro himself and how he shows his impatience. Doucet showed a video of one idle animation where Astro is hopping up and down on his feet and pointing forward, almost like a little kid that's demanding you go to the playground. It's adorable — and was added 'very, very late' in development, Doucet says when I chat with him a few weeks after the presentation. While a lot of games have characters simply breathing or looking left to right while they're idle, Team Asobi thought that it could do something a little more fun. Since the game is about rescuing characters, the team started to tie the animations to the idea of looking around, Doucet says. The team even reduced the amount of time it takes for the animations to show as a way to more quickly remind the player of the goal to find the bots. Doucet thinks of this as a subliminal way to put players in the mood to move faster. Astro actually originates from a 2013 PS4 pack-in game called The Playroom that used the PS4 camera. In that game, the robot is named Asobi, but he looks a lot like the charming Astro from Astro Bot: Asobi has big blue eyes and a cute, pudgy robot body. 'Back then, the design of the character came from two angles,' Doucet says. One was that the development team didn't have much time, so they went for a simple character design instead of a human that might require a lot of facial animations. But they also picked a robot because of where it would be making its debut: a preinstalled game on (at the time) new Sony hardware. When you think about Sony or PlayStation, Doucet says that there is an 'aspiration to the future' or something 'a little bit science fiction.' Team Asobi uses the term 'techno magic.' The robot's design came from that: 'we wanted the playful fun character, but also coupled with something really cool and futuristic.' The PS5 hardware and Astro might share a lot of similarities — white plastic with black parts and blue lights — but that's an accident, Doucet says. Instead, both the character designers and hardware team were following similar values. While it's flattering to hear that people treat Astro as PlayStation's mascot, Doucet says that wasn't the design team's original intention for the character. Instead, a mascot needs to be something that 'grows naturally' and something that the users decide or feel. That happens through repeated consistency and quality, Doucet believes. In retrospect, the awards for the game — including Game of the Year at The Game Awards — are well deserved, but the goal was primarily to put platformers and family-friendly games back on the map and release 'as good a game as we can.' Doucet used to look at renowned PlayStation studios like Naughty Dog (Uncharted, The Last of Us) and Santa Monica Studio (God of War), and think they knew some kind of 'black magic' that Team Asobi didn't. But following Astro Bot, the takeaway was that 'actually, it became the sum of lots of small things that are carefully made.' If the team keeps that consistency and makes sure that 'every bit' of the game is done as well as possible, then 'the sum of it ends up being high quality.' No wonder Astro is impatient to explore.