Agent Derp (MIU film)

Agent Derp
Teaser poster
Directed by	Jackson Gold
Screenplay by	Freddie Goodwin
Story by	Jackson Gold Alex Brow
Based on	Minecraft by Mojang Studios
Produced by	Alex Brow Lena Cross Jackson Gold
Starring	Scott Menville Jenny Slate John Boyega Giancarlo Esposito Sam Rockwell
Music by	Weston Doyle
Production companies	Mob Studios Mob Productions Mojang Studios
Release date	August 16, 2030 (2030-08-16)
Country	United States
Language	English

Agent Derp is an upcoming American computer-animated spy comedy and adventure film based on the 2011 video game Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios. Produced by Mob Studios, Mob Productions, and Mojang Studios, it is the third film in the Minecraft Universe (MIU) and an installment of its opening storyline, "Chapter One: The Broken Seed". The film is directed by Jackson Gold from a screenplay by Freddie Goodwin and a story developed by Gold and Alex Brow. It stars the voices of Scott Menville, Jenny Slate, John Boyega, Giancarlo Esposito, and Sam Rockwell.

The film follows Derp, an accident-prone delivery worker who intercepts an encrypted message intended for an underground intelligence organization known as the Obsidian Bureau. After being mistaken for a trained operative, he is assigned to work with field agents Cipher and Flint to recover a stolen map containing the locations of hidden settlements, trade routes, and redstone communication systems. Their investigation leads them to the Broker, a former Bureau operative who intends to sell the information to competing criminal organizations throughout the Overworld.

Agent Derp is a complete reinterpretation of the character following his previous appearance in the Minecraft Cinematic Universe film Agent Derp (2021). Although Menville portrayed Derp in both continuities, the film does not retain the earlier version's history, relationships, characterization, or association with Steve Stonecutter. Gold described the new version as a well-intentioned civilian whose apparent incompetence conceals an unusual ability to improvise when established plans fail.

Reports of a new Agent Derp film emerged in August 2026. Mob Studios officially placed the project into active development that October, with Gold directing and producing and Goodwin writing. It was initially described as a standalone production outside "The Broken Seed", but was incorporated into the chapter in November 2026. Menville was confirmed to return as Derp in December after Mob Studios had initially planned to recast the role.

Goodwin completed the first screenplay draft in July 2027 and a second draft that December, when Slate, Boyega, Esposito, and Rockwell joined the cast. Principal voice recording began in March 2028, followed by principal animation that October. The film was moved forward from May 16, 2031, to August 16, 2030, in September 2028.

Principal animation was completed in December 2029. Lighting, rendering, scoring, sound mixing, and final assembly continued into January 2030. The first teaser trailer and teaser poster were released on January 17. Unlike several other Minecraft Universe films delayed during the studio's January 2030 slate reorganization, Agent Derp retained its August 16 release date.

Premise

Derp works as a delivery worker and general repair assistant in Crossroads Market, a large Overworld trading settlement constructed above a network of abandoned mineshafts. Although he frequently causes accidents, Derp has developed an instinctive understanding of unstable structures, improvised machinery, and escape routes after repeatedly repairing damage he caused himself.

While transporting a package through the settlement's underground rail system, Derp accidentally exchanges his delivery bag with a container intended for Agent D-27, an operative belonging to the secretive Obsidian Bureau. The container contains an encrypted message and a fragment of the Wayfinder Atlas, a map documenting concealed tunnels, settlements, redstone relays, defensive routes, and inactive portals throughout the Overworld.

When Derp unknowingly delivers the message using the correct emergency phrase, Bureau director Obsidian assumes he is an undercover operative whose identity was deliberately concealed. Before the mistake can be corrected, the Bureau's headquarters is attacked by mercenaries searching for the Atlas.

Derp escapes with Cipher, an experienced intelligence analyst attempting to qualify for field duty, and Flint, a tactical operative who immediately recognizes that Derp has no formal training. The three are ordered to recover the stolen sections of the Atlas before its information can be sold to criminal groups capable of infiltrating settlements connected to the expanding redstone and portal networks.

Their investigation leads them across crowded trading posts, abandoned mines, automated farms, mountain railways, woodland mansions, and underground strongholds. Derp's inability to follow Bureau procedures repeatedly endangers the mission but also makes his behavior difficult for their enemies to predict.

The theft is eventually connected to the Broker, a former Obsidian Bureau operative who believes the organization has used its intelligence network to decide which settlements receive protection. He intends to auction the Atlas to rival factions, arguing that no single organization should secretly control the Overworld's routes and information.

Cipher begins questioning Director Obsidian after discovering that portions of the Atlas were compiled using records recovered from the predictive redstone network featured in Redstone. Flint remains committed to completing the mission but becomes increasingly suspicious of the Bureau's refusal to explain why it maintained surveillance of independent settlements.

Derp must determine whether to return the Atlas to the Bureau, destroy it, or expose its information, while preventing the Broker's auction from placing vulnerable communities at risk.

Voice cast

• Scott Menville as Derp, an accident-prone delivery worker who is mistaken for a trained intelligence operative after intercepting an encrypted message. Despite possessing no combat or espionage training, Derp is skilled at improvised construction and frequently survives dangerous situations through unpredictable decisions.
• Jenny Slate as Cipher, an intelligence analyst employed by the Obsidian Bureau. Cipher has extensive knowledge of codes, disguises, surveillance systems, and redstone communication but limited field experience. She is assigned to supervise Derp after the Bureau mistakes him for an operative.
• John Boyega as Flint, a disciplined field operative responsible for recovering the Wayfinder Atlas. Flint recognizes Derp's true identity shortly after meeting him but is ordered to continue the mission to avoid exposing the Bureau's mistake.
• Giancarlo Esposito as Director Obsidian, the secretive leader of the Obsidian Bureau. Obsidian believes concealed intelligence and controlled access to dangerous information are necessary to protect settlements from hostile factions.
• Sam Rockwell as the Broker, a former Bureau operative who steals the Wayfinder Atlas and plans to auction its information. The Broker argues that the Bureau has become an unelected authority controlling which settlements receive protection, intelligence, and access to safe routes.

The film also features an ensemble cast as Bureau employees, merchants, miners, mercenaries, villagers, Pillagers, railway workers, and residents of the settlements visited during the mission. Mob Studios had not announced the remaining voice cast as of January 2030.

Gold said the film would not feature Steve or Alex in principal roles. References to the events of Minecraft: The First Night, Redstone, and Netherbound establish its position in the Minecraft Universe, but the central story was designed around characters who were not involved in the dimensional conflicts of the earlier projects.

Production

Background

The Minecraft Cinematic Universe introduced its version of Derp in Agent Derp (2021). That character was a recurring acquaintance of Steve Stonecutter and became involved in a conflict concerning Herobrine, Entity 303, and the intelligence organization featured in the earlier continuity. Menville voiced Derp in the film and several later MCCU appearances.

When Mob Productions abandoned the MCCU and created the Minecraft Universe, the studio initially intended to focus on new interpretations of Steve, Alex, villagers, and the major dimensions. Derp was not included in the initial slate announced in July 2026, and Brow said characters from the previous continuity would not automatically be reintroduced solely because they had been popular.

Reports emerged in August 2026 that Mob Studios was considering a new Agent Derp film. The project was described as exploratory and was not expected to retain the earlier film's plot, supporting characters, or relationship with the wider Minecraft franchise.

Gold had previously worked with Mob Productions on animated comedy projects and proposed reinventing Derp as an ordinary Overworld resident accidentally drawn into a hidden intelligence conflict. He believed the character's physical comedy and tendency to make mistakes could be incorporated into a spy story in which trained operatives were limited by their reliance on established procedures.

Development

Mob Studios officially announced on October 27, 2026, that Agent Derp had entered active development. Gold was confirmed as director and producer, with Goodwin writing the screenplay from a story developed with Gold and Brow. Brow and Lena Cross were also named as producers.

The project was initially described as a standalone Minecraft Universe film outside "Chapter One: The Broken Seed". Brow said its spy-comedy premise was largely separate from the dimensional instability and Hollow King storyline connecting the initial slate.

Mob Studios added the film to "The Broken Seed" in November 2026 and originally scheduled it for May 16, 2031. The studio said its inclusion reflected the film's chronological position and use of technology introduced in other projects rather than a decision to make Derp central to the chapter's mythology.

Gold described the film as a story about "the least qualified person in the room becoming useful because everyone else has trained themselves to expect competence". He wanted Derp's mistakes to have understandable causes and consequences rather than functioning as unrelated slapstick sequences.

Early versions of the story involved Derp being recruited to impersonate a missing agent who resembled him. Gold and Goodwin abandoned that premise because it made the Bureau aware of Derp's lack of experience from the beginning. The revised story instead has the organization misinterpret several accidental successes as evidence that he is an unusually secretive operative.

Goodwin completed the first screenplay draft in July 2027. The draft established Crossroads Market, the Obsidian Bureau, Cipher, Flint, and the Wayfinder Atlas, but used a different antagonist who intended to activate every portal recorded by the Bureau simultaneously.

A second draft was completed in December 2027. The portal-centered antagonist was replaced by the Broker, and the story was revised to focus on information ownership, surveillance, and the Bureau's unequal protection of Overworld settlements. Gold said the changes allowed the film to remain connected to the Minecraft Universe without becoming another story about a dimensional collapse.

The Wayfinder Atlas contains information gathered from cartographers, traders, abandoned Illager records, and the redstone network maintained by Mina Quill. Its information includes hidden routes and defensive weaknesses but does not predict future events following the removal of the network's predictive function in Redstone.

Goodwin completed the production screenplay in February 2028. Dialogue and action sequences continued to be revised during voice recording and animation, particularly scenes involving Derp accidentally bypassing Bureau security systems.

In September 2028, Mob Studios moved the film forward from May 16, 2031, to August 16, 2030. Cross said the production had advanced more quickly than anticipated and could use animation resources that had become available following the completion of Minecraft: The First Night.

During the January 2030 Minecraft Universe slate reorganization, The Ender Crown and Minecraft: The Broken Seed were delayed, while Agent Derp retained its release date. Mob Studios said the film's screenplay, voice recording, and principal animation were sufficiently complete to preserve the existing schedule.

Casting

Mob Studios initially intended to cast a new performer as Derp because the film was a complete continuity reboot. Gold conducted preliminary auditions in late 2026 and considered several actors known for physical and improvisational comedy.

Menville approached Gold and Brow after reports indicated that he would not return. He submitted a voice test that removed several vocal characteristics associated with the MCCU version and proposed portraying Derp as quieter, more anxious, and less aware of how others interpreted his behavior.

On December 14, 2026, Mob Studios announced that Menville would reprise the role. Gold said the decision did not connect the two continuities and compared the casting to performers portraying alternate versions of the same established character.

Menville participated in character workshops throughout 2027. The sessions included dialogue improvisation, movement reference, silent physical comedy, and interactions with unfinished environment models. Gold wanted the animators to construct Derp's mistakes from clear physical actions rather than having objects fail without explanation.

Slate, Boyega, Esposito, and Rockwell joined the cast in December 2027. Slate was cast as Cipher after improvising several versions of the character attempting to maintain professional authority while responding to Derp's behavior. Boyega was selected to provide a more controlled performance as Flint, while Esposito joined as the Bureau's director.

Rockwell's role was initially undisclosed. He was revealed as the Broker when the teaser trailer was released in January 2030. Gold said Rockwell's performance was intended to make the antagonist entertaining and persuasive without concealing the danger created by selling the Atlas.

Principal voice recording began in March 2028. Menville, Slate, and Boyega recorded many of their scenes together, while Esposito and Rockwell completed most of their initial material separately.

Additional recording occurred throughout 2029 as scenes were revised during animation. Final scheduled dialogue pickups were completed in November 2029.

Animation and design

The film uses the stylized computer-animation approach developed for the Minecraft Universe, retaining block-based characters, creatures, and environments while allowing expressive movement, clothing, facial animation, and detailed mechanical effects.

Production designer Celia Ward developed a visual style inspired by espionage films, underground transport systems, redstone engineering, and the improvised architecture of trading settlements. Crossroads Market was designed as a densely populated settlement constructed vertically around minecart stations, warehouses, workshops, and underground routes.

The Obsidian Bureau is located inside a decommissioned stronghold beneath the settlement. Its offices combine carved stone corridors with concealed redstone doors, piston elevators, observation chambers, map rooms, testing areas, and minecart transport systems. Gold wanted the organization to appear highly advanced by Overworld standards while still being constructed from recognizable materials.

Bureau equipment includes retractable ladders, grappling mechanisms, redstone communication devices, potion-based disguises, concealed armor, throwable Ender Pearls, automated minecarts, observer cameras, and maps that update through signals received from connected relays.

Derp's equipment is assembled incorrectly after the Bureau assumes he has customized it. A grappling device pulls surrounding objects toward him rather than pulling him toward a target, his communication helmet broadcasts instead of receiving messages, and his disguised armor changes blocks around him without altering his own appearance.

Cipher's designs use compact redstone components and portable code systems, while Flint carries simpler equipment intended to remain functional during combat. Director Obsidian's office is built around an enormous map displaying the Bureau's information network.

The Broker's vehicles, clothing, and bases use machinery stolen from different organizations. His principal location is a moving auction platform assembled from connected minecarts traveling through an abandoned underground railway.

Principal animation began in October 2028. The first sequences animated included Derp's delivery route through Crossroads Market, his accidental entry into the Obsidian Bureau, and an early minecart pursuit.

The film's action was designed around physical comedy and changing environments rather than large military battles. Major sequences include a pursuit through an automated farm, a fight inside a rotating map archive, an infiltration of a woodland mansion during a masked auction, and the collapse of the Broker's moving railway platform.

By July 2029, approximately 78 percent of principal animation had been completed. Work continued on crowd animation, the Crossroads Market environments, and the final railway sequence.

Principal animation was completed in December 2029. Lighting, rendering, color work, visual effects, scoring, sound mixing, and final assembly continued into January 2030.

Music

Weston Doyle composed the film's score after working on the previous Minecraft Universe films and television series. Gold wanted the music to distinguish the film from the survival themes of Minecraft: The First Night and the heavier dimensional music of Netherbound.

The score combines orchestral spy music, percussion created from redstone components, rapid woodwind passages, muted brass, and rhythms constructed from minecart wheels, pistons, pressure plates, dispensers, bells, and opening trapdoors.

Derp's theme frequently begins as an incomplete version of the Bureau motif before changing direction or being interrupted by other instruments. Doyle said the music gradually reveals that Derp's theme is capable of resolving the central spy motif in ways the trained agents' arrangements cannot.

Cipher's theme uses repeated coded rhythms, while Flint's music is more direct and percussive. The Broker's theme rearranges the Bureau motif as a performance intended for an audience, reflecting his belief that information has value only when people compete to possess it.

Doyle began composing in June 2029. Recording commenced in November and continued into January 2030.

Marketing

The film was announced on October 27, 2026, when Mob Studios confirmed Gold, Goodwin, Brow, and Cross as its principal creative team. The initial title treatment displayed the words Agent Derp as though they had been incorrectly stamped over a confidential Bureau document.

Menville's return was announced in December 2026 through a short audio recording in which Derp repeatedly attempted to provide the correct security phrase before accidentally opening a concealed door.

Concept artwork shown during Mob Studios' July 2027 presentation depicted Derp standing inside a damaged office while several Bureau employees incorrectly saluted him. The artwork was not released publicly.

The supporting cast was announced in December 2027 alongside an image of four encrypted personnel files. The characters' names were revealed as Cipher, Flint, and Director Obsidian, while Rockwell's role remained concealed.

The first completed footage was shown privately during the July 31, 2029, Minecraft Universe presentation. It included Derp entering the Bureau, Cipher attempting to train him, Flint pursuing a minecart through Crossroads Market, and the Broker's masked auction.

The first teaser poster and teaser trailer were released on January 17, 2030. The poster depicts Derp hanging upside down from a malfunctioning grappling device above Crossroads Market while Cipher and Flint pursue a minecart carrying the Wayfinder Atlas. Director Obsidian appears on a redstone screen in the background, while the Broker stands inside a distant railway carriage.

The poster uses the tagline "THE WRONG AGENT. THE RIGHT DISASTER." Its title design resembles a classified document stamped incorrectly across a block of obsidian.

The teaser begins with Director Obsidian welcoming Derp as the Bureau's most secretive agent. Derp attempts to explain that he is delivering a package, but several explosions prevent him from completing the sentence. The trailer introduces Cipher and Flint, shows Derp receiving malfunctioning spy equipment, and reveals Rockwell as the Broker.

The teaser concludes with Derp accidentally activating every minecart in the Bureau simultaneously. When Flint asks whether he has a plan, Derp replies that he had assumed Flint did.

The trailer received positive attention for its physical comedy, Menville's revised performance, and the distinction between the film and the more dramatic previous Minecraft Universe installments. Some viewers questioned whether the film's lighter tone would connect meaningfully to "The Broken Seed", while Gold reiterated that its chapter placement was primarily chronological.

A full trailer is scheduled to be released later in 2030.

Release

Agent Derp is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on August 16, 2030.

The film was initially scheduled for May 16, 2031, before being moved forward in September 2028. Its date was retained during Mob Studios' January 2030 slate reorganization, which delayed The Ender Crown and Minecraft: The Broken Seed.

It will be the third theatrical film in the Minecraft Universe following Minecraft: The First Night and Netherbound. It is also the first MIU film centered on a character who did not previously appear in one of the franchise's television series or films.

Mob Studios had not announced the film's runtime, production budget, rating, international release schedule, or premiere location as of January 2030.

Future

Agent Derp is included in "Chapter One: The Broken Seed", though its story is largely separate from the dimensional conflict connecting the chapter's other projects.

Gold said the film contains consequences that may influence later Overworld stories, particularly the public discovery of the Obsidian Bureau and the information collected within the Wayfinder Atlas. He did not confirm that Derp would meet Steve, Alex, or the other principal characters during the film.

Mob Studios had not confirmed whether Menville, Slate, Boyega, Esposito, or Rockwell would appear in later Minecraft Universe projects. Brow said Derp's inclusion in the chapter does not guarantee that he will appear in Minecraft: The Broken Seed.

The film is followed in the Minecraft Universe release schedule by The Ender Crown, scheduled for July 18, 2031, and the second season of Villagers, scheduled to premiere on October 10, 2031.