Director Maggie Kang Says “Being True to Oneself Is the Key to Success”...Creating Global Masterpieces with Korean Identity

“I want to create what I desire to see,” said Maggie Kang, director of Netflix’s animated series *KPop Demon Hunters*, as she clearly explained the secret to her success at a global media conference. Born in Korea and moved to Canada at the age of 5, she began working on this project about seven years ago with the goal of creating a project filled with Korean culture as a Korean person. The work she envisioned combined the evil spirits, goblins she heard about as a child, and the “demon hunters” who hunt them, along with female superheroes and K-pop. As a story artist with 12 years of experience at various studios including DreamWorks, she pitched this idea, and as a result, the series released last June set a record for Netflix with 314.2 million cumulative views. The director emphasized that her creative philosophy lies at the foundation of this success. “A story artist needs to have the confidence, so to speak, the audacity, to push forward believing their idea is right. When it comes to stories, I tend to just do it first without overthinking too much.” She recalled the arduous production process by saying, “When making a movie, I only think about movies. For the past six years, my mind was filled with thoughts about movies even on weekends and at night.” Maintaining her Korean identity despite holding Canadian citizenship was a strength of this work. Maggie Kang revealed, “Even while living in Canada, my parents told me I must never forget Korean, and I lived always feeling connected to Korea.” This identity is reflected in the movie. Elements such as K-pop fandom culture, K-food (kimbap, eomuk, cup noodles, seollongtang, etc.), jjimjilbangs, public baths, traditional Korean medicine clinics, famous spots like Bukchon and Naksan Park’s fortress and Seoul Tower, as well as myths like tigers, magpies, and guardian spirits of the afterlife, and traditional elements like the signboard of the five mountains and the diagram of the sun and moon are hidden throughout. Careful research is evident even in the production process. While explaining the lineage of the film’s trio of female idols, the “Huntrix,” the director said the images reminiscent of the “Jeogori Sisters” during Japanese colonial rule and the first-generation girl group SES “were all included after thorough research.” She also personally worked on the dialogue, naturally projecting her own image onto female characters like Rumi, Mira, and Joy. There was also a strategy behind music production. “When creating music, my goal was to deliver a feeling as good as other K-pop songs. That’s why collaborating with The Black Label was important, because K-pop productions are unique and their sound is special,” she explained. As a result, the theme song “Golden” topped Billboard’s main singles chart, the Hot 100, for five consecutive weeks and ranked first on the UK’s Official Singles Chart, the Top 100, for seven consecutive weeks. Her philosophy of success is clear. Maggie Kang said, “My talent is storytelling,” adding, “You might doubt whether you truly have talent, but by trying, completing projects, and achieving success, I gained more confidence.” Finally, she offered advice to future creators: “One must never lose their true self.”