Kate McKinnon and Jemaine Clement Join Warner Bros. Thriller ‘Minecraft’

Kate McKinnon and Jemaine Clement have joined the cast of the “Minecraft” movie at Warner Bros., according to an insider with knowledge of the project.

McKinnon and Clement joins a cast that includes “Aquaman” headliner Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Eugene Hansen and Jack Black.

Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”) will direct the film, while “Dune” producer Mary Parent will produce along with Roy Lee and Jill Messick receiving a posthumous producing credit. Also producing the film are the “Minecraft” developers Mojang Studios, including Lydia Winters and Vu Bui serving as producers.

Details on the film’s plot are being kept under wraps. Black will be playing a character named Steve in the film. Developed by Swedish game designer Markus “Notch” Persson and released in 2011, “Minecraft” is an open-ended sandbox game in which players can mine resources and craft items, using them to create new structures and fight off hostile creatures.

More than a decade later, “Minecraft” remains one of the most popular and lucrative video games on the market, with fans creating community servers and conventions to share their creations. Microsoft purchased the game and its dev company Mojang for $2.5 billion and has turned it into a multimedia franchise with spinoff games and merchandise.

McKinnon most recently played Weird Barbie in Warner Bros.’ “Barbie,” which became the studio’s highest-grossing movie ever at $1.44 billion.

Clement is best known for being one-half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and is currently writing and executive producing the upcoming AppleTV+ series “Time Bandits,” based on Terry Gilliam’s 1981 film.

McKinnon is repped by CAA, Artists First and attorney Melissa Fox. Clement is repped by UTA, Jeff Endlich and Yorn Levine.

Deadline first reported the news.

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