{"id":678845,"date":"2026-05-18T15:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678845\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:25:10","slug":"kpop-demon-hunters-creator-reveals-shocking-original-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678845\/","title":{"rendered":"KPop Demon Hunters creator reveals shocking original concept"},"content":{"rendered":"

The success of Netflix and Sony Animation\u2019s KPop Demon Hunters<\/a> will be talked about for years to come. Ever since the story of the demon-hunting K-pop girl-group Huntr\/x released on June 20, 2025, fans have flocked to the film as well as the people behind it, including Huntr\/x\u2019s live performers.<\/p>\n

However, as all creatives know, you\u2019ll often have to go through several different drafts and iterations to achieve perfection. KPop Demon Hunters was no exception, with creator Maggie Kang revealing to Deadline<\/a> that the film we got was starkly different from the original she first started working on.<\/p>\n

Sony first approached Kang in 2018 with a concept about a K-pop girl group that saves the world from terrifying demons. According to Kang, the original concept was \u201cdark, adult, and very violent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
\n Image: Netflix<\/p>\n

Kang didn\u2019t provide specifics about what made the original KPop Demon Hunters so violent and dark, but given the version viewers got, we can speculate. For one thing, while there\u2019s a lot of fighting in the film, much of it is animated in a way that feels divorced from actual violence. There\u2019s no blood, and Huntr\/x\u2019s \u2018kills\u2019 of these demons are often portrayed as goofy and fun rather than malicious.<\/p>\n

There’s also the storyline following Huntr\/x’s lead, Rumi, as she keeps her half-demon heritage secret from bandmates Mira and Zoey. The film can get somewhat dark, as proved by that deeply uncomfortable scene of Mira and Zoey’s demons confronting Rumi during their live performance of \u2018Golden,\u2019 but this is mostly a movie that leans far more on the cute and fuzzy feelings than anything too jarring or bleak.<\/p>\n

Six months into development, Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson told Kang the idea was bigger than originally envisioned, prompting a shift away from the darker concept. Furthermore, Belson saw an opportunity to turn KPop Demon Hunters into a franchise and suggested that Kang adapt the idea into a four-quadrant film<\/a> that would appeal to everyone.<\/p>\n

\"Three
\n Image: Netflix<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an opportunity that clearly worked out: while KPop Demon Hunters appealed to children, it has also been a hit with older demographics. Its popularity has spawned a desire for a live-action adaptation<\/a>, as well as prompting toy giants like Mattel<\/a> and LEGO to capitalize on the film’s success at finding a place in households around the globe. KPop Demon Hunters has even got people foaming at the mouth at a live concert<\/a>, despite there being so few songs for Huntr\/x and Saja Boys to perform.<\/p>\n

As much as we\u2019ll mourn about not being able to see a darker perspective of the film, it\u2019s hard to imagine KPop Demon Hunters being as popular \u2014 or earning itself a sequel<\/a> \u2014 as it is now if it hadn\u2019t tried to appeal to everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The success of Netflix and Sony Animation\u2019s KPop Demon Hunters will be talked about for years to come.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-678845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}