You Probably Missed It, but ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is Hiding an Incredibly Touching Tribute to a Late Gamer Between All Those Blocks

A Minecraft Movie is full to bursting with nods to the various modes of gameplay and characters that’ve made Minecraft such a popular game, which might explain its phenomenal weekend at the box office. One of these Easter eggs has a surprisingly touching story behind it: when Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), Garrett (Jason Momoa), and Steve (Jack Black) first enter the Overworld, they encounter a pig with a crown on his head. “Is that a king?” Henry asks, to which Steve replies, “No. He’s a legend.” It might seem odd to give a digital pig this much reverence, but Minecraft fans will immediately know that this is a tribute to the late Minecraft player Technoblade, who became one of the game’s most prominent players.

Technoblade Became One of the World’s Most Renowed Minecraft Players

Technoblade first rose to prominence in 2013 when he officially launched his YouTube channel; most of his Minecraft play was dedicated to the “Hypixel” server, which featured a variety of minigames. Soon he became famous for winning multiple PVP tournaments, including the “Minecraft Mondays” hosted by then-popular YouTuber Keemstar. Technoblade’s growing popularity led him to befriend other famous Minecraft players, including Dream. Dream would even invite Technoblade to his personal Minecraft server, and the two had a friendly rivalry that sprung up from them being two of the best Minecraft players in the world. In 2021, Technoblade would also raise over $300,000 for the Sarcoma Foundation of America; what made it even more impressive was the fact that he reached his goals within the space of two hours—with some donations even coming in before his stream started!

The Minecraft community was rocked by the news that Technoblade had passed away in 2022, with the final video on his channel featuring his family reading a letter he penned before his death. In the letter, Technoblade expressed his love for his fans, saying,

“If I had another 100 lives, I think I would choose to be Technoblade again every single time because those were the happiest years of my life…I hope you guys enjoyed my content and that I made some of you laugh. And I hope you all go on to live long, prosperous, and happy lives, because I love you guys.”

Technoblade’s passing was felt by the entire Minecraft community; the Hypixel server established a space for fans to come and write messages while Minecraft: Java Edition would feature an icon resembling Technoblade’s and the touching message “Technoblade never dies!” Other Minecraft YouTubers came up with their own tributes, including Dream dedicating an entire song to Technoblade and TommyInnit releasing a video last year that featured Technoblade reacting to 100 Minecraft deaths.

‘A Minecraft Movie’ Director Jared Hess Added the Technoblade Icon on the Request of a Star

The Technoblade Easter egg was actually a request from Sebastian Hansen, who suggested the idea to director/co-writer Jared Hess. Hess revealed in an interview with Collider that the nod to Technoblade wound up being his favorite Easter Egg in the film:

One of my favorite Easter eggs came from Sebastian, who plays Henry. When we were prepping the film, he was like, “Look, there’s this amazing Minecraft player named Technoblade who passed away, and I would love to be able to honor him somehow in the film.” We were like, “Oh my goodness, of course.” So we spoke with our design team, and there’s a really, really sweet, special nod to Technoblade in the film that is really cool.

Having a nod to Technoblade, even if it’s a brief one, cements the impact he had on Minecraft and its community. It also shows that everyone involved with this film really cared about Minecraft: Hess took the job since his kids were into Minecraft, and Hansen is roughly the same age as players who get into Minecraft (or the kids who asked their parents to take them to A Minecraft Movie.) It only makes sense that they’d want to pay tribute to Technoblade in some way, and it appears to have worked, as reports of younger viewers immediately recognizing Technoblade’s icon or adult viewers breaking down in tears. Steve was right: Technoblade truly is a legend, in more ways than one.

A Minecraft Movie is now playing in theaters.

A Minecraft Movie

Release Date

April 4, 2025

Runtime

101 minutes

Director

Jared Hess

Writers

Chris Galletta, Gavin James, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Allison Schroeder, Chris Bowman

Producers

Jason Momoa, Jill Messick, Mary Parent, Roy Lee, Todd Hallowell, Cale Boyter, Jon Berg, Jon Spaihts, Brian Andrew Mendoza, Vu Bui, Lydia Winters