LEGO had to convince Disney that Galen Erso belonged with the Death Star

When it came to selecting LEGO Star Wars 75419 Death Star’s minifigures, it took some convincing to include a specific Rogue One character.

The upcoming 75419 Death Star features a number of record-breaking firsts, not least of all is its impressive line-up of 38 minifigures. Spanning characters from A New Hope to Return of the Jedi and beyond, the huge LEGO Star Wars UCS set would appear to have included most fans’ favourite faces.

However, a number of those 75419 Death Star minifigure selections required a bit more thought than others, with the LEGO Star Wars design team revealing which one in particular was a more challenging sell to Lucasfilm and Disney.

“Since this Death Star is kind of a mash-up of both the Death Stars from A New Hope and from Return of the Jedi, there were a bunch of characters that just had to be there,” said LEGO Star Wars graphic designer Madison O’Neil in a recent roundtable with Brick Fanatics and other LEGO fan media. "We’re showing some iconic scenes in here, so of course, you need the crew of the Millennium Falcon.

“You need Grand Moff Tarkin and all the Imperial officers that are in the conference room, and then just all the Stormtroopers and staff that you need to run the Death Star. But beyond that, we wanted to make sure to include some exclusive new characters that we've never done before.”

That thinking resulted in the LEGO Star Wars design team looking beyond the original movie saga and ultimately opting to add Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and even video game content into the mix to bulk out 75419 Death Star’s minifigure line-up.

“Some particularly exciting ones, I think, are Galen Erso,” said Madison. “We got to do a little side build dedicated to Rogue One and the characters associated with creating the Death Star, so we have Director Krennic and Galen down there.”

That side build comes in the form of a brick-built display stand to place the Director Krennic and Galen Erso minifigures on, one that also features a small console, a copy of the plans for the battle station and 75419 Death Star’s printed information plaque.

“And then, of course, the most fun one is certainly the Stormtrooper in the bathing suit, the Hot Tub Stormtrooper," Madison explained. "It’s an homage to the LEGO Star Wars video games –the first one, you go into the little secret room, and there's all these Stormtroopers there in their bathing suits.”

“I don't remember if it was a little touch and go with Lucasfilm on that one. I think they were always on board, if I remember correctly, with that. It was actually Galen we had to do a little bit more convincing to include, because he's never really seen on the Death Star, and so having this little side build kind of solved that issue for Lucasfilm.”

That decision is likely to prove a positive one with LEGO Star Wars fans, who have been unable to add a Galen Erso minifigure to their collections so far and could ultimately be one of the more satisfying aspects of the controversial UCS model.

75419 Death Star will be available exclusively for LEGO Insiders first on October 1, 2025, with a wider release for all from October 4. The LEGO Star Wars set is priced at £899.99 / $999.99 / €999.99 and comes with a free 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack GWP for Insiders members until October 7 (while stocks last).

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