LEGO has unveiled a special feature of its upcoming set based on Project Hail Mary, the sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling that is slated for release on March 20, putting a unique spin on old-school mechanics rather than some of the brick-building brand's more modern features. LEGO has been making a lot of innovations over the past several months, but the crank-based system in the official Project Hail Mary set both highlights the mechanical ingenuity of the film's protagonist and draws fans back to a simpler time.
Project Hail Mary tells the tale of junior high school teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up without any memories of his mission, what happened to his crew, or even how he got onto the Hail Mary spaceship floating through the Tau Ceti solar system, light-years from home. The upcoming film is an adaptation of the 2021 novel by Andy Weir, which highlights Grace's willpower, scientific knowledge, and creative problem-solving skills as he searches for answers to a catastrophic event affecting Earth. The first trailer for Project Hail Mary was released in late June 2025, and while it may have spoiled one of the biggest plot twists from the novel, it also grabbed sci-fi movie fans' attention.
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LEGO's Project Hail Mary Set's Special Feature Highlights the Hero's Mechanical Skills
In January, a leak in the LEGO community announced an unexpected Project Hail Mary set , which has since been confirmed by The LEGO Group and is expected to become available on March 1. Now, new details about the upcoming movie-based build have been released, showing off a special crank-based mechanical feature that will perform two different actions related to Grace's spaceship. As revealed in an official video, turning the crank in one direction will cause the entire ship to rotate on a slanted axis, giving LEGO fans an easier way to view the ship from different angles. Rotating the crank in the other direction will cause the crew module located at the back of the ship to detach from the main unit, and continuing to turn the crank in this manner allows the module to perform its own separate 360-degree rotation, simulating how its artificial gravity is generated.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Measuring in at 830 pieces in total, The Project Hail Mary kit is listed as part of LEGO's Icons theme. It's intended for ages 18 and up and retails at $99.99. The build will provide fans with a detailed microscale model of the movie's titular spaceship, measuring 12 inches high, 9.5 inches long, and 8.5 inches wide, and it also comes with the first official LEGO Minifigure of Ryan Gosling, who portrays Grace in the movie, along with a buildable version of his eventual companion, Rocky.
Utilizing an older crank-based system with a unique twist may be surprising for LEGO fans, especially considering how intensely the company has been pushing LEGO's Smart Play brick technology. Utilizing chargeable Smart Bricks that contain computer chips, upcoming LEGO Star Wars sets are scheduled to be the first to take advantage of this innovation, which allows for special lighting and sound effects to be triggered by the Smart Bricks pairing with special Smart Tag sensors included in the sets. The first Smart Play sets are scheduled for release on March 1, the same day the Project Hail Mary set comes out, and LEGO seems committed to continuing to incorporate the technology in the future.
It will be interesting to see how fans react to the Project Hail Mary set once it is released. Early impressions have seen a mix of excitement and trepidation, with some fans wondering whether a motorized function would have served the build better than a manual crank, and some others are disappointed that the rotation feature will require a good portion of the set's bricks to be dedicated to building the base and mechanical elements rather than the Hail Mary ship itself. Overall, the Project Hail Mary set seems like it could be a gamble for the Danish company, which has received much more attention by partnering with larger and more established IPs, like bringing massive Pokemon LEGO sets to fans. Still, it could prove to be a popular build among fans of the movie and Weir's novels, which also include The Martian.