“KPop Demon Hunters” Writer Hannah McMechan Came Out as Bisexual While Making the Netflix Hit: ‘So Afraid' (Exclusive)

Kirsten AcunaSun, June 14, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC

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Hannah McMechan (left) is one of the cowriters on 'KPop Demon Hunters' (right).Credit: Getty; Netflix -

Hannah McMechan reveals she came out as bisexual during the pandemic while working on the Netflix hit KPop Demon Hunters

Growing up in a religious household, McMechan was initially "afraid of telling anyone" about her sexuality

The film's themes of identity and acceptance took on deeper meaning for McMechan as she came out to loved ones

Hannah McMechan's life changed in more ways than one after joining the KPop Demon Hunters writing team in 2020."When I started the project, I had no idea that I was queer," the 30-year-old cowriter of the 2025 Netflix phenomenon tells PEOPLE. "Then we went into the pandemic, and everyone was soul-searching and realizing things about themselves."Over the next two years, the Oakhurst, Calif., native came out as bisexual to her friends before eventually telling her parents in 2023."I was so afraid of telling anyone in my life, which ironically is very accurate to the movie," says McMechan, who grew up in a religious household. "I was having this journey with my sexuality and not wanting to tell anyone and feeling ashamed of it."KPop Demon Hunters follows a young singer, Rumi, who is told to hide her half-demon identity out of fear of ostracism. McMechan says the film began taking on a new meaning after she came out to family and friends, even as she kept her sexuality private while working on it.

Hannah McMechan at the Tribeca Festival on June 7.Credit: Dominik Bindl/Getty

"Every time we rewatched it or finished another draft, I was at such a different place in my life, where it took on a new meaning every single time," McMechan says."I wasn't even talking about this when we were writing," she adds of realizing she was bisexual. "I was like, 'I'm not telling anyone this, and I don't even want to accept this to be true.' It wasn't even something that I discussed with [directors] Maggie [Kang] or Chris [Appelhans]. I wasn't like, 'Hey, here's my queer journey. Let's put it in.' I'm sure it bled into the writing, even though I did not tell anyone."McMechan singles out one particular scene for it's personal relatability: Rumi's confrontation with her adoptive mother, Celine, near the end of the film. Rumi asks Celine to accept her true identity after it's been revealed to her friends. When Celine refuses and says they can "fix this" and "hide" her demon marks, Rumi heartbreakingly asks why she can't love and accept all of her.

Rumi, the central character in 'KPop Demon Hunters'Credit: Netflix

"By the fourth, fifth screenings, it was that scene where it's like, 'Why won't you love me — all of me?' It just took on such a different meaning," says McMechan. "This literally feels how I feel with my mom because she's so religious."McMechan recalls that it "was really difficult" to come out to her parents, and that it remains an ongoing conversation she continues to navigate."I think it is really important for people to know that their family situations are normal. It's amazing when I hear stories of people's parents immediately being like, 'Oh, I knew,' and 'That's cool,' but my experience was honestly from the 1980s. It was not fun," says McMechan, who has been with her partner for about four years now. "They're still trying to accept it and still asking if I'm still queer, because they think it's a phase. I'm trying to stay strong."Now watching that scene between Rumi and Celine hits home a bit harder."I tear up because it feels so similar to the queer experience and how you feel with your parents if they don't accept you, where they're like, 'We can fix it,' " McMechan says. "I can't believe this thing took on a whole different, meaning over the course of the six years that we were a part of the project."Seeing LGBTQIA+ audiences embrace the film has been especially meaningful to McMechan."It's so cool," she says. "There's no group of people happier than a bunch of queer people dressed up as these girls.""I wasn't a K-Pop fan when I got hired. I'm a huge fan now and will be for the rest of my life," she adds.Next, McMechan and her writing partner, Danya Jimenez, 29, who co-wrote KPop Demon Hunters, are working on director Tim Burton's remake of Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, starring Margot Robbie, while developing an original passion project of their own.

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The original poster for 1958's 'Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman'Credit: Everett

"Danya and I are working on a queer western right now, and both of those things are difficult to get funding for," says McMechan, who already has a dream director in mind for the film."Let me tell you, we want Lily Wachowski to direct our queer western," she says of the famed TheMatrix codirector.

Hannah McMechan (left) with best friend and writing partner Danya Jimenez at the Tribeca Festival on June 8.Credit: Jason Mendez/Getty

And while Netflix announced a sequel to KPop Demon Hunters in March, McMehan says she hasn't heard about returning as a writer yet."I think right now it's just the directors that are doing the first pass," says McMechan. "Fingers crossed that they want us back, but that has definitely been a question on our minds as well. We know as much as you do.""Danya and I were on the project for the first two years, so we did all the first outlines and treatments of all the different versions that this movie could be," she continues. "Is it going to be an origin story? Do we start from the very beginning when they were kids, or are they already friends? We went through every different version of what the first movie could be.""We had so much backstory with Jinu and his family, and Rumi and her parents, and what actually happened between them," she adds. "There's a whole vault of hundreds of thousands of ideas."

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