A Minecraft Movie ending explained: What happens to the Piglins? Does Malgosha die? Does Steve ever leave the Overworld?

Good news Minecraft fans, one of the most highly anticipated upcoming video game movies, A Minecraft Movie, is finally here! Directed by Jared Hess, the film takes four regular world people and plunges them into the Minecraft universe known as the Overworld, where their only chance of survival and a way out of the Overworld falls down to in-game character Steve.

However, although the film only stands at 1 hour and 40 minutes long, it packs a lot in, and before you know it, the final scene is here. With this in mind, it can be quite confusing to really grasp what went down during those last moments, and where it leaves our new five friends. But don't worry, that's where we come in. Below you will find a detailed recap of A Minecraft Movie’s ending, as well as answers to any questions you may have.

Warning, the following article contains major spoilers for A Minecraft Movie, so if you haven't seen the film yet, turn back now! But before you head to the movie theater, make sure to read our A Minecraft Movie review first.

A Minecraft Movie stars Jack Black as Steve, a human who longed to mine and craft, and with the use of the Orb of Dominance, was able to enter the Overworld and create to his heart's content. But when evil Piglin leader Malgosha takes the orb from Steve and imprisons him, Steve’s dog Denis runs back to the human world with the orb, hiding it in Steve’s house, while leaving Steve captive in the Piglins' Underworld.

Years later, a group of humans in the real world, orphans Natalie (Emma Myers) and her brother Henry (Sebastian Hansen), real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks), and gamer Garrett the Garbage Man (Jason Momoa) find the Orb, which pulls them all into the Overworld. Once inside, Garrett loses the Orb’s holder, which closes the portal home. From that point on, the group relies on the now free Steve to find a new Orb holder and reopen the portal so Henry, Natalie, Garrett, and Dawn can get home.

But the mission to reopen the portal is not as straightforward as it sounds, as the group has the Piglins on their backs wherever they go, which leads to a chaotic final battle. But who wins, who is able to go home in the end, and where does this leave Steve? For that and more, keep reading on!

A Minecraft Movie ending recap

The beginning of the end kicks off when Steve, Henry, and Garrett narrowly escape The Woodland Mansion filled with Vindicators, only to be met with Ghast riding Piglins outside on the bridge. The Piglins steal the orb and prepare to attack the three and blow up the bridge with TNT blocks. In order to save his friends, Garrett lets Steve and Henry fly away on a Ghast while he stays on the bridge to fight the Piglins, which eventually blows up. Steve and Henry fly away on the Ghast until they crash, which knocks both of them unconscious.

The pair then wake up in a mushroom hut after being rescued by Dawn and Natalie, with the help of sniffer dog Denis, of course. After Dawn and Natalie hear about what went down at The Woodland Mansion, the four devise a plan to fight the Piglins, take back the Orb, and return home. The next few scenes see the team preparing for battle. In Steve’s inventory hut, Natalie crafts a diamond sword, and with her brother, creates Iron Golems by placing iron and a pumpkin on the crafting table. Henry then places the Boots of Swiftness on one Iron Golem, making him the super-fast leader.

Meanwhile, Dawn has taken to the woods with Denis to find more wolves to tame. Using bones that the team got from blowing up skeletons with TNT and redstone, Dawn manages to tame a whole pack of wolves ready for battle.

Then, it's showtime. As the Piglins approach the group, we can see a huge beacon behind them pointing up to the sky, using the Orb for power. It becomes apparent that the beacon, using the Orb’s power, is making it possible for the Piglins to survive in the Overworld without turning into Pig Zombies and burning in the sun. When the Piglins see the army of Iron Golems, they laugh, as Malgosha points out, Iron Golems cannot attack unless they are provoked first. But a rather eager little Piglin shoots an arrow at the leader golem, and so the fight begins.

The Iron Golems start rushing towards the Piglins and spinning their arms around, sending the Piglins soaring to their deaths. The super fast leader is able to hit the Piglins at super speed (well, super fast for a Golem at least). All the while, Natalie is fighting the Piglins with her Diamond Sword, and Steve, suited with Diamond Armour, is making his way up a hill to Malgosha.Then out of the woods, Dawn appears with Denis and Malgosha laughs, sneering at her one wolf. But then the rest of Dawn’s wolf army emerges and attacks the Piglins.

While all this is happening, Henry grabs the Enderman pearl that he stole from The Woodland Mansion, and throws it to the top of the portal so he can transport up there and grab the Orb of Dominance. But when he is up there, the Great Hog shoots him down. But while Henry is falling to his death, Garrett appears out of nowhere on a Ghast and catches Henry. By jabbing the Ghast in its tentacles, Garrett is able to shoot the Great Hog with fire, before an Iron Golem finishes him off.

Using the Ghast, Garret and Henry blow up the Beacon and retrieve the Orb. When the shuts down, the Piglin-controlled night turns to day. As the sun shines down, all the zombies and skeletons set on fire and die. The Piglins start to zombify and die too, including Malgosha, who, in her withering state, tries to stab Steve several times while he is trying to tell her that she has lost. When Malgosha finally dies, the Overworld returns to its natural, beautiful state, and the team use the orb to open up the portal back home.

But when the team are about to leave, they ask Steve if he will come with them, but he says no as he still has some stuff to build. But when Natalie asks him to imagine “what you could do with that magic in the real world,” Steve seems to change his tune.

In the next scene, we see the team back in the real world. Putting all her Piglin fighting to use, Natalie is now running a self-defense class. Henry, on the other hand, has mastered his jetpack invention from the beginning of the movie, and is now a cool kid in school. Garrett’s gaming business is booming as he and Henry have created their own version of Minecraft, and kids, of course, absolutely love it. As for Dawn, she has ditched job juggling and now has a business hosting kids’ birthday parties with the help of Denis the wolf.

The film ends with the team happy in the real world, as Steve and Garrett perform their song ‘I Feel Alive’ in Garrett’s gaming store, with Henry, Natalie, and Dawn dancing in the crowd. It looks like Steve brought his Overworld magic to the real world after all. But that's not all, as we then get a sneaky mid-credits scene, see below for more on that.

What happens to the Orb of Dominance?

The Orb of Dominance sure gets put through the ringer in the movie. At one point it's in Steve’s possession, who first found it in the mineshaft at the beginning of the movie, then Malgosha takes it, then Denis brings it to the real world, where Garrett finds it. It's a lot to keep up with. But towards the end of the movie, with a little help from Garrett, Henry retrieves the orb from Malgosha’s Beacon, and by placing it in its clear container, the orb opens up a portal to the real world where Natalie, Henry, Garrett, Dawn, and Steve exit through. At the end of the movie, the orb is in the team's possession, who knows, maybe it could be the source of another Minecraft Movie adventure one day.

How long were Henry, Dawn, Natalie, and Garrett in the Overworld for?

Although Henry, Dawn, Natalie, and Garrett were in the Overworld for several Minecraft days, we have to remember that in the world of Minecraft, days only last about 20 minutes. So when they return back to the real world, they have only been gone for one real day. We know this as the whole time the team are in the Overworld, Jennifer Coolidge’s character Marlene is still in the real world where she meets a villager, goes on a date with him, and then introduces him to her ex-husband all in the space of about 24 hours.

Does Steve return to the human world?

At the end of the movie, when the orb opens the portal back up to the real world, Steve is reluctant to go through, saying that he still has a few things to build in the overworld, so he’s going to stay a little longer. However, with some persuasion from Natalie, Steve enters the real world, and at the end of the film, we can see him jamming out with Garrett in Garrett’s gaming shop, performing his original song ‘I Feel Alive’.

What happens to the Overworld?

After taking the orb from the Beacon and defeating Malgosha and the Piglins, the group manages to bring the Overworld back to its former glory. When the Beacon powers down, the eternal night mode the world was in due to the Piglins reverts back to a sunny Minecraft day with bees buzzing around and animals grazing the grass. Now the Overworld has returned to its prime state, we guess that means its ready for the next player to enter.

Where are Henry, Dawn, Natalie, and Garrett at the end of the movie?

The final scene ties up each character’s own personal storyline quite nicely. We see that Natalie, a girl forced to grow up way too fast and take on a parental role over her own brother, is now using her overprotective nature to her advantage just as she did in the Overworld, only now in the real world, she has opened up her own self defence class. Similarly, Henry, who at the beginning fo the film struggled in social situations at school, has now mastered his jetpack invention, and in turn is now one of the cool kids in school.

As for the adults, Garrett’s previous money troubles have now gone away as by creating his own version of the Minecraft game with some help from Henry, Garrett’s gaming business is booming. He is also now part of a two-man band with Steve. And last but not least, animal lover Dawn, who ditches job juggling to open a party animal hire business with Denis. At the end of the movie, we see her dancing along to Steve and Garrett’s new song.

What happens to Malgosha and the Piglins?

When the Beacon is destroyed, Malgosha and the Piglins can no longer survive in the Overworld, and one by one they start to zombify and wither away. Malgosha is one of the last to die, and at the end of the movie, we see her lifeless body slumped over.

Does Garrett solve his money troubles?

At the start of the movie, we see Garrett desperate to raise money after receiving an eviction notice on his gaming store. In an attempt to grab some cash, Garrett purchases an abandoned storage locker in a Storage Hunters-type situation. However, the locker turns out to belong to Steve and holds the Orb of Dominance inside. The only reason that Garrett buys the locker is because of the 1978 Atari gaming console inside. However, upon purchasing the locker, the Garbage Man finds that the Atari box is more or less empty, holding only a few pieces of junk alongside the Orb.

Once inside the Overworld, Garrett blackmails Steve to lead him to the treasure. But once at Steve’s diamond stash, Garrett, Steve, and Henry are chased out by the Great Hog. With no diamonds and no money, things are looking pretty bleak for Garrett. However, at the end of the movie, Garrett uses what he has learned inside the Overworld, and with some help from Henry, he creates his own version of Minecraft, called Battleworld Block Buddies, which causes his gaming business to boom once again.

Where is Marlene?

Although she never enters the Overworld, Vice Principal Marlene (Jennifer Coolidge) has a running romantic storyline that we pan back to every once in a while. After hitting a Nitwit villager with her car, Marlene takes the big-headed benign out on a date where the two connect. At the end of the film Marlene has fallen completely in love with the villager after just one day. We wish the happy couple the best!

Is there a post-credits scene?

Marlene’s love story leads us to the post-credits scene. Yes, A Minecraft Movie does indeed have a post-credits scene, or rather, a mid-credits scene. Soon after the first lot of credits roll, we are treated to the final act of Marlene and the villagers’ romantic side story. In her office at Chuglass High School, Marlene and her new Nitwit villager boyfriend profess their love for each other while her ex husband Clemenete watches on in horror. Oh, and did we mention, the Nitwit turns out to be voiced by none other than the most devious villager in the Overworld – read our A Minecraft Movie post-credits guide for more on that.

Will there be A Minecraft Movie 2?

Although A Minecraft Movie manages to tie up each of the characters' storylines, there is always room for a sequel. Despite managing to pack so much Minecraft lore into its 1 hour 40 minute run time, the movie only scratches the surface of what the Minecraft game has to offer. After all, the Overworld is practically infinite. So who knows, maybe there is another Minecraft movie on the horizon.

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