Minecraft movie's Herobrine Easter egg was a glitch that stayed in the movie "because the VFX studio ran out of time"

Sorry Minecraft fans, it looks like that sneaky Herobrine Easter egg in A Minecraft Movie might not be a direct link to the 2010 creepypasta story, as Mojang Studios’ creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson has debunked the theory.

Warning, this article contains mild spoilers, so make sure you have watched the movie and read our A Minecraft Movie review before reading on.

In the middle of the film, at The Woodland Mansion, Henry meets an Enderman who puts him in a trance-like state where he starts to see visions of Steve saying horrible things to him while his eyes glow white – see our A Minecraft Movie ending explained for what happens afterwards. But seeing Steve with blank white eyes has reminded fans of the Minecraft urban legend, Herobrine.

However, it sounds as though Herobrine was never part of the plan at all as producer Olafsson has put the theory to bed. "It’s super strange that all of their eyes were supposed to be purple but when it was rendered one of the characters eyes kept coming out white in the final rendered frames so we wound up keeping it like that, because the VFX studio ran out of time," said the game developer via Twitter.

If you weren't chronically online back in the day, you may be wondering what Herobrine is. The story, which has since been debunked, comes from a now 15-year-old anonymous post on 4chan where a player reported seeing a version of Steve with white eyes and unnatural abilities pop up in the Minecraft game. The legend then appeared as a scary story on creepypasta, where Herobrine was revealed to be the spirit of a deceased person.

Although Steve’s eyes were supposed to reflect those of the Enderman, this doesn't mean that Herobrine won’t pop up in further Minecraft Movies. We know from the vast list of A Minecraft Movie Easter eggs, references, and cameos, the filmmakers do like to include a few nods to Minecraft fab culture.

Although a sequel to A Minecraft Movie hasn’t been announced just yet, due to the first film’s success so far and A Minecraft Movie’s post-credits scene, it’s looking positive. When we asked director Jared Hess if he would be interested in making another movie, he told GamesRadar+, "Oh, it'd be so much fun. I mean, look, the world's infinite."

A Minecraft Movie is out now. For more, see our list of the best video game movies or keep up with upcoming video game movies.