The ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Writer-Directors Are Very Aware of the Sequel Pressure

KPop Demon Hunters seems very likely to pick up both Oscars it’s nominated for—Best Animated Feature and Best Song (for “Golden,†now enjoying yet another resurgence thanks to the Olympics)—when Hollywood’s biggest awards show happens next month. But even if it doesn’t, its accomplishments are already staggering. It’s Netflix’s most-watched movie ever, with a hit soundtrack that broke its own share of records. Now that the long-awaited merch for the film is finally starting to trickle out, the biggest question is still the most obvious one: what’s gonna happen in the sequel?

In a new video interview with Deadline, the movie’s directing team, Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, chuckled when asked what’s happening with their follow-up, as well as a more direct (if knowingly facetious) question regarding what the sequel will be about. It’s already been made clear that KPop Demon Hunters 2 won’t be a rush job; late last year, it was estimated to be aiming for a 2029 release. But even with plenty of time ahead to work on it, Kang and Applehans told the trade they’re still feeling plenty of pressure—especially from themselves.

“We have been joking that we feel like we’re still working on the first movie,†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 “couch! couch! couch!†time, just like the tour-drained Huntr/x members do in their movie.

But regarding the sequel, the collaborators admit they have been thinking about it. “You have to think about so many things beyond what’s in the first movie to make that movie,†Kang pointed out. “You 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.â€

She continued. “In terms of pressure, we put immense amounts of pressure on ourselves for the first movie. And for me personally, I don’t see a lot of people that look like me get this position. And so I was like, ‘I’m not going to blow this. This may be the only thing I ever do in my career. So I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.’ 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’. Extremely high. And so it’ll be like that for whatever we do next. I don’t think anybody else can put pressure on us like we do on ourselves.â€

Hear that, Netflix? We have a feeling KPop Demon Hunters 2 won’t have the time-crunch issues the Stranger Things finale did—but like that big farewell, expectations for this project could not be higher. At least Kang and Applehans have lots of runway before the movie’s expected to appear.

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