Directing duo Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans are officially back at the helm.

KPop Demon Hunters sequel moves ahead with original team returning: ‘This is only the beginning’

Directing duo Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans are officially back at the helm.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in Vanity Fair, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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March 12, 2026 2:37 p.m. ET

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'KPop Demon Hunters'. Credit:

One of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood is the development of a *KPop Demon Hunters* sequel. While the cast and crew played coy, and Netflix remained tight-lipped on most updates, too much info came out in the press for this to *not* happen.

Still, it's always nice to have the official word on the matter.

"It's official," a statement from the Netflix camp began on Thursday when formally announcing *KPop Demon Hunters 2*. Directing duo Maggie Kang (who originated the idea) and Chris Appelhans are back at the helm of the next movie.

“I feel immense pride as a Korean filmmaker that the audience wants more from this Korean story and our Korean characters," Kang said in a statement. "There’s so much more to this world we have built and I’m excited to show you. This is only the beginning."

Applehans' own statement begins, "These characters are like family to us, their world has become our second home. We’re excited to write their next chapter, challenge them and watch them evolve — and continue pushing the boundaries of how music, animation, and story can come together.”

Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang winning Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes for 'KPop Demon Hunters'.

Kevork Djansezian/CBS

** previously reported the sequel is projected to arrive sometime in 2029, given the lengthy time it takes to make an animated *anything*.

The first film, which became Netflix's most-watched movie ever, introduced Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo) as members of HUNTR/X, an internationally recognized K-pop girl group that secretly moonlight as demon hunters.

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To combat them, the demons form their own rival K-pop boy band, dubbed the Saja Boys, stealing HUNTR/X's fans and gobbling up their souls for their demon master. Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), the face of the Saja Boys, develops feelings for Rumi, who struggles with her half-demon nature.

In addition to the voice cast, *KPop Demon Hunters* turned the recording artists behind the characters' vocals — namely EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami — into stars through numerous chart-topping songs off the wildly popular soundtrack.

Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey in Kpop Demon Hunters.

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"Golden" notably made history as the first K-pop song to win a Grammy, in addition to winning Best Original Song at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes award ceremonies. The film itself also won Best Animated Feature at the Globes and is the frontrunner for the big animation Oscars accolade.

The directors previously signaled where a sequel could now go from here, telling EW that they mapped out the larger mythology and backstory around these characters.

"We were trying to do a non-origin origin story with a concept that's brand new to people," Kang said. "What is it about these girls that brought them into HUNTR/X and made them demon hunters? What is each of their backstory? How did they get chosen? What is that journey like? There was really not a space for the movie to show all that. So we really had to make these choices of what is essential to the story, and that is the information that we will show."**

- Animated Movies

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Animated”