Warning: SPOILERS for KPop Demon Hunters are in play.
If you’ve been following Netflix’s Top 10 charts, some pretty big titles in 2025 movies have topped the roster. Both Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Destination Wedding and Adam Sandler’s fan pleasing Happy Gilmore 2 shot to the top upon release, only to eventually see Netflix’s record setting KPop Demon Hunters once again become head of the pack.
With recent reports that Sony Pictures Animation and the streaming studio are looking to expand with a stage show and sequels, this is good news for Huntr/x fans worldwide. Thanks to KPop’s obsession-worthy deleted scenes, there’s already story beats fans are hoping will be integrated into the fold. I think one above all others is the most important, and no, I’m not talking about Rumi and Jinu’s aquarium date.
KPop Demon Hunters’ Sequels Need To Address Celine’s Role In Rumi’s Life
Thanks to a recent story by The Wrap, sequel mania has kicked into overdrive throughout the KPop Demon Hunters fandom. That plan includes, among other things, two sequel movies. One of those could offer an opportunity to dive into the fractured relationship between Rumi (Arden Cho) and her aunt Celine (Yunjin Kim). Especially because, according to some deleted scenes and details released online, we learn that Celine killed her own sister.
Yes, Celine Killed Rumi’s Mother (With Caveats)
There’s not a lot said about Rumi’s mother and father, namely how they died. All we know is that they died in their daughter’s younger years, leaving Rumi’s mother’s sister Celine (fellow demon hunter/member of The Sunshine Sisters) to care for her.
However, visual development artist Simon Baek shared some unrealized work from the project on Instagram. A piece of particular interest, shown below, provides insight that even Netflix subscription holders didn’t get:
Celine’s “guilt” indicated in one of the slides, to me, feels like it harkens back to this excised flashback, in which we learn that she (presumably) killed Rumi’s parents. The plot continues to thicken in the material seen below from this supposedly scrubbed post from Mr. Baek a fan managed to capture:
why is no one talking about this ??!! #KPOPDEMONHUNTERS #rumi pic.twitter.com/bfVu3vPUQ7June 26, 2025
Just in case that disappears, KPop Demon Hunters had a moment where Rumi flat out asks Celine why she’d kill her mother? Accompanying that image was this comment, again from Simon Baek:
[Celine] was not the villain, but she killed her by accident. It’s related to Rumi’s father, but can’t talk about the reason why Celine did that. Just in case it comes out as a sequel. Not even sure if [a] sequel comes out or not.
Rumi and Celine’s relationship needs to be explored more in KPop’s potential sequels, especially with this “accidental” death in the air. However, movies such as this take time, so we’re not getting KPop Demon Hunters 2: Jinu’s Return anytime soon. As luck would have it, there’s another storytelling engine Netflix and Sony are considering that could, at the very least, help deliver more context to this story.
KPop Demon Hunters’ Early Sequel Talks Have Already Opened A Door To Making This Happen
Per the report cited above that lays out KPop Demon Hunters’ potentially bright and beautiful future, there’s a type of project that shows great potential in filling in some of these gaps. With co-writers/directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans sharing some pretty ambitious plans from the start, the story of this would-be franchise has plenty of corners left to explore. Which makes this last note on KPop’s future most exciting:
Additionally, much like “Frozen,” there is a short film being discussed to serve as “bridge content” between the mainline features.
Seeing as Celine and Rumi’s relationship has scenes that were already written and boarded, KPop Demon Hunters has its first potential test case for the shorts formula. Alas, all of this is still pretty up in the air. So if you want to help push for that sequel, you can keep watching the original – only on Netflix.
