{"id":289647,"date":"2026-02-10T01:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T01:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289647\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T01:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T01:09:07","slug":"the-kpop-demon-hunters-writer-directors-are-very-aware-of-the-sequel-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289647\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Writer-Directors Are Very Aware of the Sequel Pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

KPop Demon Hunters seems very likely to pick up both Oscars<\/a> it\u2019s nominated for\u2014Best Animated Feature and Best Song (for \u201cGolden,\u201d now enjoying yet another resurgence thanks to the Olympics)\u2014when Hollywood\u2019s biggest awards show happens next month. But even if it doesn\u2019t, its accomplishments are already staggering. It\u2019s Netflix\u2019s most-watched movie<\/a> ever, with a hit soundtrack that broke its own share of records<\/a>. Now that the long-awaited merch<\/a> for the film is finally starting to trickle out, the biggest question is still the most obvious one: what\u2019s gonna happen in the sequel?<\/p>\n

In a new video interview with Deadline<\/a>, the movie\u2019s directing team, Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, chuckled when asked what\u2019s happening with their follow-up, as well as a more direct (if knowingly facetious) question regarding what the sequel will be about. It\u2019s already been made clear that KPop Demon Hunters 2 won\u2019t be a rush job; late last year, it was estimated to be aiming for a 2029 release<\/a>. But even with plenty of time ahead to work on it, Kang and Applehans told the trade they\u2019re still feeling plenty of pressure\u2014especially from themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been joking that we feel like we\u2019re still working on the first movie,\u201d Appelhans said, thanks to its continuous success and now its big awards-season push. Now that the publicity cycle of the first KPop is finally coming to an end, they admit they need some \u201ccouch! couch! couch!\u201d time, just like the tour-drained Huntr\/x members do in their movie.<\/p>\n

But regarding the sequel, the collaborators admit they have been thinking about it. \u201cYou have to think about so many things beyond what\u2019s in the first movie to make that movie,\u201d Kang pointed out. \u201cYou have to think about all the backstories, and you have to really create that entire world in order to tell that one part of that world.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued. \u201cIn terms of pressure, we put immense amounts of pressure on ourselves for the first movie. And for me personally, I don\u2019t see a lot of people that look like me get this position. And so I was like, \u2018I\u2019m not going to blow this. This may be the only thing I ever do in my career. So I\u2019m going to give it everything I\u2019ve got.\u2019 So I put a lot of pressure on myself to make a movie that I would be proud of, and my standards are very high. And so are Chris\u2019. Extremely high. And so it\u2019ll be like that for whatever we do next. I don\u2019t think anybody else can put pressure on us like we do on ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hear that, Netflix? We have a feeling KPop Demon Hunters 2 won\u2019t have the time-crunch issues the Stranger Things finale<\/a> did\u2014but like that big farewell, expectations for this project could not be higher. At least Kang and Applehans have lots of runway before the movie\u2019s expected to appear.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KPop Demon Hunters seems very likely to pick up both Oscars it\u2019s nominated for\u2014Best Animated Feature and Best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,3622,270,1868],"class_list":["post-289647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kpop-demon-hunters","tag-movies","tag-netflix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}