Mnet just opened GIRLS PLANET 2 to the world and turned KCON into its next audition stage

Mnet opened global applications for GIRLS PLANET 2 on May 1 at 8 a.m. KST and confirmed the survival show will air in 2027, according to Soompi's report on the launch. The bigger play is what happens next. CJ ENM is not treating this like a quiet online casting call. According to Forbes, the company is pushing in-person auditions into KCON JAPAN 2026 and KCON LA 2026, turning one of K-pop's biggest fan conventions into a live scouting funnel for its next girl group. That matters because Mnet is selling more than a TV comeback here. It is selling access, scale, and the idea that the next breakout trainee could be pulled straight from the same convention floor where fandom already shows up in force. It also shifts the story from a future broadcast slot to a live global talent hunt that starts now.

Girls Planet 2 is back with a much wider brief

GIRLS PLANET 2 is Mnet's next audition project for a global girl group, and the rules are intentionally broad. StarNews reported that applicants born before Jan. 1, 2013 can apply regardless of nationality, residence, prior debut experience, or agency status, while the official teaser video on YouTube confirms the project launched publicly on May 1 under the banner "GLOBAL AUDITION OPEN." That framing is sharper than the usual survival-show promise. Mnet is telling trainees in Seoul, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Bangkok, and anywhere else with enough ambition that the door is open now. We have seen this machine work before. Kep1er came out of Girls Planet 999, and the group is still active enough that HITKULTR recently broke down their latest CRACK CODE era. This new cycle is pitched as the next global step, not a nostalgia rerun.

KCON is the real power move in this rollout

KCON JAPAN 2026 and KCON LA 2026 are not throwaway venue names in a press release. They are the clearest signal that Mnet wants its next trainee hunt to happen in public, in front of existing fandom, and across markets that already speak fluent K-pop. Forbes said the on-site auditions will mirror open-call energy rather than stay locked inside agency networks, and that changes the feel of the whole project. KCON has already grown into a much bigger media property than a normal fan convention. NextShark noted in 2024 that KCON LA's M Countdown finale was headed for its first US national TV broadcast, which helps explain why this platform makes sense for Mnet now. If you want a show to feel global before episode one, you build the auditions into a stage people already recognize. Mnet's own convention becomes the first episode before the broadcast even starts.

Why this matters for the next Mnet girl group

Mnet is restarting the Planet format at a moment when survival shows need more than nostalgia to hit. The network can no longer rely on Korean broadcast reach alone, and it knows the next project group has to arrive with international traction already baked in. According to Soompi, the recruitment is open worldwide from day one. According to StarNews, the production team is positioning the contestants as girls chasing the same stage across language and background barriers. That is polished copy, sure, but it also reads like a blunt business strategy. The show needs broader intake, broader fandom, and a stronger overseas payoff if it wants to create another breakout act instead of a familiar genre exercise. Mnet just told the market exactly how it plans to do that.

The early fan response is already shifting from whether GIRLS PLANET 2 would happen to where the strongest applicants might come from and how hard the KCON stops will be to access. That is the right kind of noise for Mnet. It turns a 2027 premiere into a 2026 conversation, keeps the Planet pipeline visible between seasons, and gives CJ ENM another way to turn live events, digital clips, and eventual broadcast episodes into one connected funnel. If the company executes, GIRLS PLANET 2 will not just be another survival show launch. It will be a year-long recruitment campaign with cameras waiting at the end.