Netflix Minecraft: new animated series announced, release date, trailer, story - and who stars in it?

Fifteen years after its launch, a brand-new Minecraft animated series has been announced by Netflix, with the streaming giant releasing a short teaser trailer that promises the project will arrive "soon."

The announcement came during anniversary celebrations of the popular survival sandbox game, and the series will feature an original story and new characters, offering a fresh perspective on the Minecraft world.

In Minecraft, players engage in a variety of activities within a randomly generated 3D world composed of blocks, including gathering resources to create structures and items. The game features diverse environments to explore, including forests, caves and the Nether, each with unique challenges and resources.

While Minecraft doesn’t have a specific storyline, its sandbox nature and the freedom it offers players make it adaptable to a variety of story formats, and an original narrative within its world will likely make the series appeal to both fans of the game and new audiences.

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WildBrain, the studio known for other animated Netflix shows like Sonic Prime, Ninjago: Dragons Rising, and Carmen Sandiego, will produce the CG-animated series.

The teaser trailer opens with a Creeper, one of Minecraft's iconic characters, appearing on screen before exploding.

The scene then takes viewers through lava streams in the Nether, and to a cave where the Netflix logo is displayed on a rock, accompanied by sounds of Minecraft creatures like spiders and zombies.

Finally, onscreen text confirms that the "Netflix x Minecraft" project will be an "animated series", and that it is "coming soon." The exact release date has not yet been confirmed, but Netflix series can take up to two years to debut.

The news comes during a surge in video game adaptations, with popular games like The Last of Us and Fallout recently having been turned into successful series, while Mario and Sonic have become box office hits.

Other adaptations, including Among Us, Death Stranding, and Stray, are in development, and in addition to the animated series, a live-action Minecraft movie starring Jack Black as main character Steve is also in development.

The film will also star Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks and Emma Myers, and is scheduled for release on 4 April 2025.

Since its release in 2009, Minecraft has remained hugely popular, with publisher Microsoft continually adding new features and options, and has sold over 300 million copies.