The Art Of The Thirsty Mega-Viral Fan Edit

When TikTok was on the verge of a shutdown in January 2025, the first video I ran to download — like grabbing a precious keepsake while your ship sinks — was *that* edit of Pedro Pascal. You know the one: It features clips from Kingsman: The Golden Circle set to Shaggy’s “Hey Sexy Lady.” The 2023 video, created by TikToker @dvcree, has now amassed more than 58 million views and more than 5 million likes, and it helped cement Pascal’s Internet “daddy” status.

That 18-second TikTok is just one of many iconic thirst edits of celebrities, including Steve Harrington in Stranger Things, Jacob Elordi in Saltburn, and Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name, that have gone mega-viral in recent years.

They’re having such a moment that actors are being asked in interviews what tracks they’d want used for their characters — and some are even begging for them to be made. Just days after Adults premiered in May, Jack Innanen posted, “Can someone just make a f*cking edit of me, please?” (It worked — there are now more than 1,500 videos under the tag #PaulBaker, Innanen’s character.)

Before horned-up fans can watch these edits on repeat, the creators behind them are putting in hours to get them just right. Here, three TikTokers tell Elite Daily about the secret to making the perfect edit that’s guaranteed to take off on the FYP.

The Editor Who Proudly Reps Team Conrad

Username: @.ghqstface

Specialty: TV shows and movies (The Summer I Turned Pretty, KPop Demon Hunters, Outer Banks, Overcompensating)

Most viral video: Drew Starkey (1.5 million likes, 7.1 million views)

Creator @.ghqstface, aka Stella, started making edits in 2021, when “there wasn’t much else to do.” Her work recently came across my FYP thanks to a Season 3 The Summer I Turned Pretty edit of Conrad Fisher (Chris Briney), which has become her best-known niche. “My friends introduced me to the show when it came out in 2022,” she says. “Since it’s so popular, it helps my edits get more views.” Her top TSITP performer is a Conrad edit set to “Na Na” by Trey Songz that has more than 4.5 million views and almost 900,000 likes.

I get tons of thirsty comments that crack me up.

Editing one video can take 20 minutes to an hour for Stella to complete. Though she tries to post one each day, she says the secret to a good fan edit is patience. It’s all about “not rushing and coming up with something clever, like a song, that will match a situation or a character perfectly.”

When she’s not on the Video Star app piecing together clips, a majority of Stella’s time is spent interacting with her 70,000 followers. “I love getting to connect with others online over shows and movies we all like,” Stella says. She may have a full-time job outside of her social accounts, but the content creator admits, “I try to find moments before or after my shift to edit.”

Stella’s most viral video yet is an edit of Drew Starkey from Outer Banks, posted in January 2025 with 7.1 million views. “I posted it a few hours before the TikTok ban. It started blowing up and had around 300,000 likes, and then TikTok went dark,” she says. When the app came back only a few hours later, it had hit more than 1 million likes.

That edit begins with Starkey’s co-star Madelyn Cline asking a question about his microphone — “Why is yours bigger than mine?” — followed by Starkey smirking. One fan wrote under the video, “Born to ride, forced to scroll,” which Stella says is her favorite comment she’s received.

“When I post an edit of a character or actor that many people find attractive, I get tons of thirsty comments that crack me up,” she says. “I especially love the pictures people comment that are thirsty.” (On a Tyler Galpin edit from Wednesday Season 2 — which Stella posted the day it premiered — one fan posted a photo of Jacob from Twilight with his wolf howling beside him.)

The Editor Who Got A Like From Pedro Pascal

Username: @daenerysfiles

Specialty: Celebrities (Pedro Pascal, Manny Jacinto, Emilia Clarke)

Most viral video: Pedro Pascal (514,000 likes, 5.2 million views)

Creator @daenerysfiles, aka Derin, focuses mainly on Pedro Pascal edits, but got started with Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones in 2019. “I always loved watching fan edits, so I decided to give it a try myself,” says the 23-year-old English teacher from Turkey. Now, her most popular TikToks featuring The Materialists star rack up around 2 million views. “After one of my Pedro edits went viral, this account took off from there,” she says.

Pedro is so attractive that once I have a good audio, I don’t have to do much else.

When Derin is motivated, she says it takes her one to two hours to finish an edit. However, if she’s not feeling it, she can go days without opening After Effects and up to two weeks before completing everything. “I spend a big portion of my free time editing,” she says. “It’s been my No. 1 hobby for the last five or six years, and whenever I feel happy or sad or even angry, I find myself in front of my computer.” The most she’s done is five edits in one week, but she doesn’t like to stress herself out by keeping to that cadence.

Derin starts her editing process with the song choice and builds her videos from there. Her most popular needle drops include “Need to Know” by Doja Cat, “Too Sweet” by Hozier, and “Bad” by Michael Jackson. “I think the audio is the most important part of thirst edits, and to find perfect clips to match the lyrics,” she says. “Pedro is so attractive that once I have a good audio, I don’t have to do much else.”

Derin knows she’s done a good job when she gets “slightly threatening comments.” “Weirdly, stuff like ‘Walk faster when you see me’ or ‘You are going in the note’ are my favorite,” she says. “Another thirsty comment that made me laugh under a Pedro edit was ‘It’s actually so windy today I hope I don’t get blown away and land in someone’s lap.’”

The ultimate stamp of approval came from The Fantastic Four actor himself in April 2025, with a video showing off Pascal’s sassy side set to the song “Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels” by Todrick Hall. “My most viral video got 5 million views on Instagram and a like from Pedro, which was life-changing for my little fangirl heart. I genuinely thought I was going to pass out.”

The Editor Who Kept Army Fed Through The BTS Hiatus

Username: @kookstar7

Specialty: BTS

Most viral video: Jimin and Suga (1.5 million likes, 4.8 million views)

BTS fans have been waiting for their faves to return since announcing their hiatus in 2022, so creator @kookstar7, aka Sue, stepped in to fill the gaps. “I began editing Stranger Things videos around the end of 2018, but after 2021, I took a long break,” they say. They returned to TikTok to create BTS-related content and haven’t looked back.

Fan edits are just something silly to kick your feet and giggle to.

Being a full-time student and working on the weekend makes it hard for Sue to find time, but since they love making fan edits so much, they make it work. One edit can take around two to three hours, so they schedule in up to three videos a week.

The first step is picking a song, and Sue says they like to choose audios that match the personality of every member. “Not every song fits every idol. For example, a sultry, laid-back beat fits Jin’s old-money-like appearance, while Jungkook needs something more intense and direct.” Jin’s aura works with “Careless Whisper” by George Michael and “Glory Box” by Portishead, while JK leans more pop with Ariana Grande or Michael Jackson songs.

ARMY is definitely picking up what Sue is putting down, especially in the comments section. “People are getting more creative by the day with their thirst reactions,” they say. (Think: “I swear my clothes were JUST on.”) “The public’s reactions are always a factor when it comes to knowing if I did a good job or not.” While they aim to make a visually pleasing video, they know the secret is piecing something together that harmonizes with the cuts, clips, and soundtrack.

With more than 560 fan edits under their belt, Sue says fans’ obsession with horny montages comes down to “visual satisfaction.” “Fan edits are just something silly to kick your feet and giggle to,” they say. So, if you’re ever wondering why someone has a Pedro Pascal TikTok saved to their camera roll (that someone being me), just know it’s for self-care.