Netflix Just Announced A New Animated Minecraft Series Is In The Works
Your kid is going to be so stoked.
Good news, Minecrafters or Minecraftians or whatever it is that your Minecraft-obsessed kid goes by — Netflix just announced that an animated Minecraft series is in the works. Since its release 15 years ago in 2009, the open-world sandbox game has become one of the most recognizable video game franchises in existence. With a nearly endless blank slate for players to mine and create, Minecraft as a game is basically whatever you make it.
And gamers don't just play Minecraft. In its more than a decade of popularity, it's spawned books, action figures, Lego sets, plushies, clothing, and more. Minecrafters like to watch the game, too. In fact, in 2021, Minecraft surpassed 1 trillion streaming views on YouTube. A live-action Minecraft movie starring Jason Momoa is slated for release in 2025. Why not create an animated series based on the game? The concept art and inspiration are practically ready to go.
So, whether you're the one dodging creepers or your kid is the redstone wizard of the family, keep reading to learn more about what's in store.
What is the new animated Minecraft series on Netflix?
On May 30, Netflix and Minecraft announced the upcoming series, teasing, "The bestselling game of all time and the biggest streamer in the world are teaming up to bring you a brand-new Minecraft Netflix animated series! News dropped at the Minecraft 15th-year anniversary celebration. More updates to come."
The teaser trailer is simple, featuring only a creeper walking onto the screen and then exploding. After that, the "camera" flies over Minecraft-style lava to the Netflix "N" logo. It's not much, but it's very real and definitely exciting.
What we do know for sure is that Netflix has promised "an original story with new characters" and that more information will be available soon.
When will the series premiere?
With no official release date yet, Netflix is clearly playing it close to the proverbial vest — the streamer isn't even sharing if fans can expect the Minecraft animated series this year. The trailer just says it's "coming soon." And, well, we all know that "soon" is a relative term in Hollywood.
How popular is Minecraft, exactly?
For a better look at Minecraft's popularity, let's check out the statistics. 2022 Minecraft recorded an average of 90 million user logins a month. That same year, it gained $365 million in revenue, according to Business of Apps. In 2020, Minecraft recorded an average of 131 million active users each month, according to PC Mag. According to a very unofficial poll on the Minecraft Forum, a shocking 47% of poled Minecraft users reported playing Minecraft anywhere from 2-6 hours per day.
How is this series different from the movie? And isn't there already a Minecraft series on Netflix?
A game entertaining enough to take up a quarter of your day and pull in that kind of revenue is an easy money-making grab for studios. Hence, there are two different current adaptations in the works — the animated series and the movie — as well as the recently removed-from-Netflix Minecraft: Story Mode.
Although few details have surfaced about the movie, it'll likely differ in tone and obviously style from the animated series, considering it's live-action. According to IMDB, the film is in post-production with a scheduled release date of April 4, 2025. The star-stacked cast includes Momoa, Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Kate McKinnon, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Jermaine Clement, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen.
As far as the Minecraft "series" you may have noticed on Netflix in the past, it technically wasn't a traditional scripted animated series. Instead, Minecraft: Story Mode was an interactive point-and-click remake of the first-season video game (think "choose your own adventure" style). It was released in 2018 but removed by Netflix in December 2022 when their license expired.
While you await a release date for the new series, you could always start or restart logging your own time on Minecraft, building your perfect (or imperfect, if that's more fun) world, and getting a refresher on the Minecraft lingo.
