The director of BTS‘ comeback film, The Return, has revealed that the project was inspired by the Odyssey and Greek mythology.
The documentary is set to premiere on Friday (March 27), and goes behind the scenes of the K-pop giants as they make their highly anticipated comeback this year – with all seven members back together for the first time since a hiatus in 2022 after enlisting for mandatory military service.
Already, the band have held a free concert in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul ahead of their sold-out, 82-date tour. It was livestreamed to over 190 countries on Netflix and welcomed roughly 104,000 fans, breaking the record for the largest-ever public concert in South Korea.
BTS have also shared their long-awaited comeback album ‘Arirang’, and the new Netflix documentary will show the band behind the scenes as they reunited and began work on new music.
It is directed by Bao Nguyen (The Stringer, The Greatest Night In Pop), and in a new interview with Teen Vogue, the filmmaker revealed that Greek mythology was a prominent source of inspiration.
This, he explained, was due to the common ground he saw between Odysseus, King of Ithaca, on his 10-year-long journey home after the Trojan War, and the anticipation of Penelope to see him return.
Asked by the outlet how he came to be involved in the documentary, Nguyen said: “Well, it’s sort of a long story… I had approached the label right near the end of their SoFi tour [dates in California] back in 2021.”
“When I was at the concert, it was just sort of quite epic in many ways. For me, BTS was almost like Odysseus going away to war and [their fanbase] ARMY was like Penelope, having this longing for their heroes to return. And so, I approached the label then with that idea, but they were deep into military service and everyone had sort of separate lives,” he continued.
“And they came back to me the summer of 2025 saying, ‘Well, the group is back. They’re recording an album. Would you be interested in making a film about that?’ So, that’s when it started.”
Nguyen also went on to share that the vision was also seen by RM, who coincidentally spoke about Greek mythology with him.
“This was by happenstance in many ways. I mentioned that Odyssey and Greek mythology were a framework for the film, and we were just like sitting in the car with RM and driving from the home in LA to the studio, and he just starts talking about kairos and chronos, which are these Greek concepts of time,” the director explained, adding that Chronis is “measured time and linear time” while Kairos is “immeasurable and like life in terms of moments and impermanence”.
“That what I thought coming from the outside of what their journey was also was something that they saw in their own perspective,” Nguyen continued. “And RM is obviously such a philosophical and wise person. So when he said that, I knew that we were going to have a chance to make a really great film.”
‘Arirang’ was given a four-star review from NME, which read: “Much of ‘Arirang’ negotiates polar ideas – BTS as heroes or normal people, the buzz of the spotlight and the hush of their private worlds, longing for the euphoric parts of life to continue versus wanting to get off of the ride.”
“BTS’ return to their roots here isn’t just a reference to their cultural identity, but also to the music they first emerged making,” it added. “The first half of ‘Arirang’ goes heavy on the hip-hop – an addictive onslaught of attitude and energy that makes for a powerful reintroduction. ‘Hooligan’’s alternative hip-hop dials up the fun and takes things into satisfyingly strange sonic territory, combining bladelike schwings with skipping strings, while ‘FYA’ revs up into something urgent and uplifting.”
Their huge live show in Seoul saw them break out new tracks from the record for the first time, including ‘Body to Body’, ‘Hooligan’, ‘2.0’, and ‘Like Animals’, and RM performed seated for much of the set after spraining his ankle in rehearsals.
The huge 2026 and 2027 world tour dates kick off next month, and are set to cover 34 regions and 79 live shows, marking their biggest tour yet.