Jack Black will reportedly play Steve in the long-delayed Minecraft movie adapatation

Jack Black is reportedly set to play Minecraft Steve. Deadline wrote on Tuesday that the School of Rock actor will play the game’s blocky protagonist alongside Jason Momoa in the game’s long-delayedfilm adaptation.

The Minecraft adaptation has been in development since 2014. It’s cycled through at least three previous directors (Shawn Levy, Rob McElhenney and Peter Sollett) and two missed release windows (2019 and 2022). Its current target date is April 4, 2025.

The writers for the project’s current iteration haven’t yet been revealed. However, adapting the sandbox building game into a plot-driven Hollywood blockbuster will allow for (and probably require) ample creativity from its scribes. A plot synopsis published in 2019 (which may or may not still apply) describes the film as following “a teenage girl and her unlikely group of adventurers. After the malevolent Ender Dragon sets out on a path of destruction, they must save their beautiful, blocky Overworld.”

Black is fresh off a beloved performance as Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where he showed the effectiveness of his larger-than-life comedic presence in gaming adaptations. IGN even noted that both of Black’s gaming roles — Bowser and Steve — appeared in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Napoleon Dynamite creator (and Black collaborator on Nacho Libre) Jared Hess will direct. Deadline says production will start soon on the film, which hails from Warner Bros, Vertigo, Legendary, Mojang / Microsoft and On the Roam. Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks and Sebastian Eugene Hansen have signed on to join Black and Momoa in the cast.