Title: BTS – The Return
Director: Bao Nguyen
Producer: Bao Nguyen
Starring: Kim “RM” Nam-joon, Min “Suga” Yoon-gi, Jung “J-Hope” Ho-seok, Kim “Jin” Seok-jin, Jeon “Jung Kook” Jung-kook, and Kim “V” Tae-hyung
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Nonfiction, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars (10 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

Follows BTS as they reunite in Los Angeles after completing military service, confronting how to begin again, honor their past, and move forward together as they return to making music.

Boy bands generally don’t last this long. Can BTS make their big comeback in 2026?

Due to South Korea’s mandatory military service, the members of the K-Pop band BTS have been absent from modern music since 2022. This documentary showed their readjustment to life as civilians and the work they put into their new album, Arirang. I was surprised to learn that these performers were not exempt from military service and was curious to see what their time away from the spotlight had taught them. Without sharing spoilers, this topic was covered thoroughly and satisfactorily!

The scenes that explored how all seven members have matured over the past thirteen years or so were the ones that propelled this to a perfect rating for me. Most people change quite a bit between their teens or early twenties and their thirties, and BTS wanted this evolution to be included in their new music. When combined with what is a fairly long hiatus for a genre that is famous for having young fans that can rapidly outgrow their favourite artists, the question of how their audience would respond to this growth hung in the air both in the studio and in the meetings with music executives about which songs should or should not make the cut. It was especially interesting to me to find out how they chose the name for their album and what that represented to them now that they are all well into adulthood.

Viewers who are already part of the Army, which stands for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth and is how some fans of BTS refer to themselves, will have a few fun surprises along the way, but this was still a good watch for those of us who maybe weren’t so familiar with their work. I appreciated the fact that this was filmed in a way that could appeal to a wide variety of people and didn’t make any assumptions about what we did or didn’t already know about them. It’s not always easy to accomplish something like that, but it sure makes for a good viewing experience.

BTS – The Return was heartwarming and made me wonder what is in store for them next!