This film was originally going to be directed by Shawn Levy, but he left the project after disagreements with the Minecraft developers as they thought that his idea did not suit the game.
While in pre-production UK YouTuber George Mason (catfishing comedian) started and fuelled a rumour about Pedro Pascal starring as Steve.
This is Jack Black and Jared Hess second collaboration since 19 years earlier while making Nacho Libre.