‘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.