It's been a major year for LEGO news, both good and bad, and some of the biggest surprises aren't properly getting underway until next year.
Whether you're excited for projects coming in 2026 or have been eager for several LEGO sets and announcements released and made in 2025, this year has been huge for LEGO news. That's not limited to good news, either, as there have been developments from the past 12 months that have been surprising in a completely different way. Following up on our equivalent list in 2024, we've gathered seven times the LEGO Group surprised us in 2025.
Keep reading for a handful of the most surprising announcements and developments from the LEGO Group in 2025 as Brick Fanatics continues to end 2025 in style.
LEGO Star Trek, at long last
Starting towards the back-end of 2025, the LEGO Group's first-ever Star Trek sets were certainly a major surprise, starting with a teaser of the transporter room and resulting in two exciting builds that launched as part of the annual Black Friday event. The Shuttlepod gift quickly sold out in most regions, and
It's not an entirely positive surprise as stickers across both sets have proven to be rife with mistakes and typos, but this will likely be fixed in due course. For now, revel in the long-awaited arrival of LEGO Star Trek.
A questionable partnership with FIFA
Some of the surprises from the LEGO Group in 2025 don't concern sets launching this year, starting with a new partnership with FIFA that is starting with a giant trophy model.
When LEGO was super effective, plucking Pokémon from another brand
Without a doubt, the biggest news of this year was the announcement of LEGO Pokémon sets in 2026. The exact details of the LEGO Pokémon partnership have yet to be confirmed, aside from an arrival next year, but rumours include a house, starters and much more. Notably, MEGA's run of Pokémon models was also confirmed to end this year, implying that the LEGO Group captured the partnership from them. Presumably, such a major partnership required at least an Ultra Ball.
A live-action LEGO Friends musical
The LEGO Group confirmed earlier in 2025 that they would be tasking High School Musical's Kenny Ortega with directing a live-action LEGO Friends musical special for 2026. It joined the live-action NINJAGO movie ordered in 2024.
"I don’t know who’s more excited - my family or me," said Ortega. "We are a LEGO-loving household, and receiving this invitation from the LEGO Group to join them in their first live-action musical is an absolute honour. Also being able to produce alongside the wonderful team at Final Pixel, leaders in virtual production, has me overjoyed, and I am thrilled to have my longtime creative partner, Paul Becker, alongside.”
The storyline of the special will follow a girl who constructs a world out of LEGO elements, only to be transported to Heartlake City. Filming began earlier in 2025, confirming the title as simply LEGO Friends: HEARTLAKE The Musical.
When the LEGO Group bought LEGOLAND Discovery Centres worldwide
You'd be forgiven for assuming that the LEGO Group entirely owned LEGOLAND Discovery Centres located across the globe, but that wasn't the case until earlier this year. The LEGO Group announced on September 24 that it had agreed a £200 million deal to acquire LEGO and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres from Merlin Entertainments. That includes 29 centres across nine countries, attracting five million visitors between them every year.
Merlin Entertainments still retains ownership of the larger LEGOLAND resorts, but the LEGO Group still significantly expanded its reach through this deal.
“We are excited to welcome the Discovery Centres to the LEGO Group and appreciate all that Merlin Entertainments has done to bring the LEGO brand to life through these attractions," said the LEGO Group CEO Niels B Christiansen.
"They will be an important addition to our global network of retail stores and allow us to offer fans of all ages even more memorable hands-on brand and shopping experiences. We are looking forward to welcoming the dedicated Discovery Centre teams who inspire visitors to bring to life their imagination and creativity through the power of LEGO Play.”
10 working, life-sized LEGO Formula 1 cars
A pleasing LEGO surprise over the summer season came as a result of the huge Formula 1 partnership, when a series of 10 working LEGO cars were revealed before taking to the track as part of the driver's parade. We probably won't see something quite like this again anytime soon, save for the life-sized Cadillac that served a similar purpose recently.
When BrickLink was confirmed to close in 35 countries
In a post on the BrickLink forum published November 21, a member of the site’s admin team listed 35 countries – including India, Brazil, Turkey, Egypt and Costa Rica – where the secondary marketplace would close on December 12. Since then, the Head of BrickLink, Steven Lee, has apologised to the LEGO community and announced a delay to the closure of BrickLink stores across the impacted countries. .
While the closures will not be happening until January 31, 2026, and fees are being removed for any affected sellers in those countries for November, December, and January, it was still an unfortunate way to cap off 2025.
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