LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants 2026 sets: a breadcrumb trail
A couple of breadcrumbs are leading to the possibility of LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants making a comeback in 2026, but it really depends just how much you want to believe…
LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants sets haven’t been seen on shelves since 2012, when the minifigure-scale playsets bowed out with 3818 Bikini Bottom Undersea Party and 3817 The Flying Dutchman. But some fans are convinced that the animated character could be making a comeback in LEGO Stores next year, mostly thanks to a small breadcrumb trail that opens the door to exactly that possibility.
First up is an announcement from building block manufacturer AREA-X that its officially-licensed SpongeBob SquarePants products will be discontinued at the end of 2025. This isn’t a quiet fizzling out of the product range: it’s a direct discontinuation that will see products removed from storefronts and sales channels at midnight on December 30.
That’s the same approach MEGA has taken to Pokémon, confirming earlier this year that it will ‘no longer be supplying Pokémon products’ as of December 2025. The similarities between the two cases suggests that AREA-X has lost the SpongeBob SquarePants licence to a competitor, just as MEGA lost the Pokémon licence to the LEGO Group.
There’s no confirmation yet that the LEGO Group is responsible for AREA-X losing the SpongeBob licence, but it wouldn’t be the first, second or even third time in recent memory that the Danish company has plucked the rights to an IP from a rival. K’NEX had the Super Mario licence until 2019, BlueBrixx previously held the rights to Star Trek and (as mentioned) Pokémon is joining the LEGO fold from MEGA in 2026.
The second breadcrumb on this trail is a little fainter, but just2good points out that SpongeBob SquarePants is rumoured to be joining Fortnite by the end of 2025 (or perhaps early in 2026). This also wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen the LEGO Group return to a licensed property in tandem with its introduction to Fortnite: exactly the same thing happened in 2025 with The Simpsons.
That clue to potential LEGO SpongeBob sets is a little weaker, though, if only because LEGO Fortnite skins have never been a guarantee that we’ll see corresponding physical products. (See Avatar: The Last Airbender, KPop Demon Hunters, and the newly-added Danny Phantom.) A stronger case for the sets would arguably be the reason the show is presumably coming to Fortnite: its latest theatrical release.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants lands in cinemas on December 19, bringing the now 26-year-old character into the spotlight once again. While it would be a little surprising to see the LEGO Group capitalising on that resurgence months after the movie’s release rather than ahead of time (as it usually does), there was really no catalyst at all for Springfield’s finest to return in 2025 with 10352 The Simpsons: Krusty Burger, so there’s precedent too for a more unusually-timed release.
Exactly what form new LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants sets could take in 2026 is up for debate. Are there enough kids who grew up with the show and are still interested in it as adults to sustain an 18+ Icons set? Could it justify another fully-fledged wave of playsets, as per its original run? Or will we just see a customary LEGO BrickHeadz two-pack of SpongeBob and Patrick?
It could be any of those things – or nothing at all. But if you’re nostalgic for those original 2006 to 2012 sets, this is as good a chance as any for LEGO SpongeBob to return.
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