Meet the Mexican American talent behind ‘KPop Demon Hunters’

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The House of Pies, a Los Feliz institution, is bustling on a chilly January morning.

It’s not surprising to hear people at breakfast talking about how popular “KPop Demon Hunters” has become. The 2025 animated movie, about three musicians battling supernatural enemies, is now Netflix’s most-watched film ever. Plus, its hit song, “Golden,” recently made history as the first K-pop track to win a Grammy Award.

Danya Jimenez, 29, isn’t completely surprised by how the movie she started writing in 2020 has been received, though she admits the response took a while to come.

I immediately knew this project was going to be huge – the best thing we’d ever done,” she remembers. However, after a few years, she and her close friend and writing partner, Hannah McMechan, 30, started working on other things and began to doubt if their project, “KPop,” would ever be finished. Animated productions simply take a long time to create.

She only started to believe the movie might be as good as she’d originally hoped when she found out her parents, who are Mexican, were already aware of it and seemed positive.

I started to understand this could be a significant issue when my parents told me people were noticing – things like my dad’s colleagues or friends of my aunt were talking about it, even before I’d said anything myself.

“But never in my life did I think it would be at this scale.”

The animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” has received two Academy Award nominations – one for best animated feature and another for its original song. This recognition adds to the already widespread popularity of its characters, Rumi, Mira, and Zoey.

Jimenez says people are constantly sending her pictures of fake ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ dolls they find. She laughs about it, recalling a friend recently bought her a shirt from Mexicali featuring the three characters – though the images on the shirt didn’t resemble them at all. She was thrilled the shirt even had her name on it!

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Jimenez and McMechan started their careers after graduating from Loyola Marymount University in 2018, quickly securing both jobs and representation. However, it was an unmade screenplay they wrote – a story about a Mexican American teen fascinated by Anthony Bourdain called “Luna Likes” – that unexpectedly led them toward working on a project related to KPop.

Their script, “Luna Likes,” was accepted into the competitive Sundance Screenwriters Lab. There, they received guidance from Nicole Perlman, a co-writer of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Perlman, who also worked as a production consultant on “KPop,” believed they had strong potential.

Jimenez didn’t understand how her mature comedy, focused on a troubled Mexican American teenager, could fit with a family-friendly animated movie about K-pop, but they presented their idea anyway. It was more of a small, character-driven story than a large-scale action movie.

Jimenez explains that if their take on ‘KPop’ was a traditional live-action production, it would have required a huge budget. Instead, it was made on a very limited budget. The climax of the story involved a pool party where all the characters – both the girls and the boys – were playing instruments and kissing, which is quite different from typical K-pop performances.

Although their initial idea wasn’t right for the movie, Maggie Kang – who co-directed and co-wrote the film – felt that her and her co-writer’s experiences as young female friends and creative partners could bring a sense of realism to the main characters.

Jimenez explains that Maggie had already spoken with many well-known writers, particularly older men. Because Maggie understood the relevant cultural landscape – including K-pop and animation – and was familiar with the subject matter, they felt she simply needed to capture the authentic voices of the young women involved, which is why they were brought on board.

Kang explained in an email how valuable it was to work with writers who were the same age as the characters they were developing. She noted that Hannah and Danya, who fit that description, were instrumental in giving HUNTR/X an authentic and youthful perspective.

Neither Jimenez nor McMechan were initially interested in K-pop. They both began watching K-pop videos for their research, but McMechan quickly became a dedicated fan. It wasn’t long before Jimenez also found herself captivated, particularly by BTS’ song, “Life Goes On.”

“K-pop is all-consuming once you get into it,” explains Jimenez, who loves the groups BTS and Got7. Stray Kids is McMechan’s favorite group, and she finds them particularly captivating.

The creators of the three demon hunter characters based them on their own personalities. The characters’ tendency to make silly or even unpleasant faces, and their sometimes gross behavior, comes from the writers’ own experiences and how they see girlhood and young womanhood. Jimenez, who describes herself as a moody teenager, feels a strong connection to the rebellious character, Mira.

Jimenez admits she often comes across as aloof. She explains people sometimes misinterpret her neutral expression as being unfriendly, but says that, like her character Mira in the movie, she deeply values close relationships with her friends.

Jimenez finds the most authentic characters to be those with complex personalities, not just simple likability. The main character in “Luna Likes” is based on her own life, and particularly on the connection she had with her father while watching Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown.”

Jimenez wanted to break away from stereotypes when creating the character of Luna. He explains, ‘There’s often a feeling that Mexicans need to be portrayed as good, hardworking people, so I decided to make Luna flawed and a bit difficult.’ He wanted her to be a realistic teenager growing up in America, deserving of the same understanding and forgiveness as anyone else her age, even when she’s selfish or makes mistakes.

Despite growing up in very different environments, Jimenez and McMechan bonded over their similar senses of humor when they met in college. They had been close friends for a long time before they started writing stories together. “It’s amazing to have a writing partner,” says Jimenez. “I really feel for those who don’t – no offense to anyone!”

McMechan and Jimenez have a successful writing partnership built on a strong friendship, and they credit each other for their achievements. McMechan excels at seeing the overall vision, while Jimenez is skilled at finding humor in the small details.

McMechan admits Danya is the funnier one. She explains that writing humor into conversations is tricky – it can easily sound awkward or unnatural. Danya, however, has a knack for making funny dialogue sound completely natural.

I always knew she was a natural storyteller – she used to write stories just for fun when she was a teenager. But she never really thought about becoming a writer professionally until she saw the movie “No Strings Attached” in high school. It was seeing Ashton Kutcher’s character, a production assistant on a TV show, that first made her consider it as a possible career path. It really sparked something in her, seeing that world!

She remembers he was really struggling, but she was captivated by actors and thought their lives looked amazing. Her dad simply pointed out that acting was a job.

Jimenez’s parents are originally from Tijuana, and she lived there as a baby before the family returned to her birthplace, San Diego. When she was about five years old, they moved again, this time to Orange County. Before starting school, Jimenez primarily spoke Spanish, which made adjusting to an English-speaking classroom challenging.

Looking back, I realized I knew English, it just wasn’t my default. I’d be eager to participate in class, raise my hand, and then, without even thinking, I’d blurt something out in Spanish! My teachers were understandably concerned about my word choice – my vocabulary was a constant worry for them. It’s actually pretty hilarious when I think about it now, considering I ended up becoming a writer!

She credits movies and television, particularly the Disney show “Lizzie McGuire,” with significantly improving her English vocabulary, as noted in her professional biography.

Jimenez recalls feeling isolated growing up in Orange County, where she rarely encountered other people of Latino heritage outside of her family. As a teenager, she was deeply ashamed of certain things she did, driven by a fear of being judged and a strong desire to belong.

Jimenez admits she used to be embarrassed to speak Spanish around others, even with her mom. She’d often speak quietly, as if trying to hide it. She also remembers asking her mom to turn down Spanish music when dropping her off at school, not wanting her classmates to hear it.

I’ve been noticing a trend with a lot of young Latinos – myself included, honestly – where we’re actively trying to reconnect with our roots. It’s like we’re making up for times we maybe weren’t as proud of who we are, letting the opinions of others hold us back. It’s a really powerful thing to see, this reclaiming of heritage.

She remembers spending time during the pandemic getting all of her grandmother’s recipes written down, and now she’s created a website to share them. She’s also become more attentive to corrections from her mother when speaking Spanish, eager to learn and improve.

Knowing it might not sit well with her mother, Jimenez playfully calls her a “cool mom,” like the character Amy Poehler plays in “Mean Girls.” Growing up comfortably financially, Jimenez often feels disconnected from the typical stories about Latino experiences shown in movies and on television. She wants to broaden the range of stories told about Latinos, moving beyond common stereotypes.

It’s really important to me to share Latino and Mexican stories in a genuine way, hoping others will see themselves reflected in them. I’m not interested in meeting people’s preconceived notions about what those stories should be.

While they haven’t given up on the idea of creating “Luna Likes” someday, Jimenez and McMechan are currently focused on continuing their fast-paced progress.

Their careers are really taking off right now, and they’re having a major moment. They just finished working on the Apple TV show “Brothers,” featuring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, which was filmed in Texas. Plus, they’re currently writing a new movie called “Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman” that Tim Burton is set to direct, and Margot Robbie is being considered for the lead role.

Jimenez says she’s felt numb since June, and admits that dwelling on things would be overwhelming. She delivers this with her characteristic dry wit.

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2026-03-04 18:02