LEGO The Lord of the Rings 2023 – everything we know so far

As the eagerly-anticipated Rings of Power finale debuts on Amazon Prime Video, here’s everything we know so far about LEGO The Lord of the Rings’ rumoured return in 2023.

Middle-earth fever is running high at the minute, as the first season of Amazon’s bank-breaking adventure into the depths of Tolkien lore (and beyond) comes to a close. The LEGO Group is apparently hoping to swing its axe and mine that renewed interest by resurrecting its long-dormant The Lord of the Rings theme in 2023 – but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to go quite the way you’d think.

Here’s a complete round-up of everything the rumour mill has told us about LEGO The Lord of the Rings so far. Remember that these are just rumours for now, and could yet prove false – so take them with a pinch of salt until we get official confirmation.

It’s not quite the return of the king – yet

While the original LEGO The Lord of the Rings theme focused almost entirely on playsets – with the exception of a direct-to-consumer model in 10237 Tower of Orthanc – it sounds like the 2023 relaunch is going to go in completely the opposite direction. At the moment, no minifigure-driven playsets are on the cards: instead, we’re seemingly looking at a bunch of BrickHeadz statues and one massive D2C model.

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We’re back to strange character selections already

There’s a lot to be said for the designs of the original LEGO The Lord of the Rings minifigures, many of which are so impressively detailed that they still hold up a full decade on. But there are some glaring omissions in the roster – Sauron and the Witch King spring to mind – especially with one eye on some of the obscurities we did get back in the early ‘10s (Haldir, the Mouth of Sauron).

It sounds like the LEGO Group is reverting to that strategy with its rumoured LEGO The Lord of the Rings BrickHeadz sets, which are said to be kicking things off with Frodo, Gollum, Gandalf, the Balrog (erm…), Aragorn and… Arwen. The latter two make sense as a pairing, but surely there are more iconic characters to start with than Arwen?

LEGO thinks LotR is for adults

Alongside the three reported BrickHeadz two-packs, next year is supposedly going to bring us an enormous direct-to-consumer set inspired by The Lord of the Rings. There’s no word yet on what exactly it could entail, but the possibilities are limitless. Or maybe there’s just one obvious one, given how many similar builds have reached 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas: a giant Minas Tirith.

Whatever it ends up being (if it exists at all), the fact it’s the only non-BrickHeadz set – and that there are seemingly no smaller, cheaper playsets on the way – suggests the LEGO Group thinks the biggest demographic for The Lord of the Rings is adults. A suspicion that’s bolstered by the set’s price, because…

You’re going to need deep pockets

The rumoured LEGO The Lord of the Rings 2023 D2C set is currently thought to come in at an eye-watering €500. That places it in the same ballpark as 76405 Hogwarts Icons Collectors’ Edition, 75159 Death Star and 42131 App-Controlled Cat D11 Bulldozer. And it also seemingly locks any kind of proper return of LEGO LotR behind a massive paywall, severely restricting the number of people who will be able to enjoy it.

Fingers crossed the LEGO Group follows up with more affordable and accessible sets at some stage – not every adult has €500 to drop on a single product, just to get a modern taste of LEGO The Lord of the Rings.

Every LEGO The Lord of the Rings set rumoured for 2023

Here’s a quick snapshot of every LEGO The Lord of the Rings set rumoured for 2023 at the time of writing.

Set namePricePiecesRelease date
40630 Frodo and Gollum€14.99TBCJanuary 2023
40631 Balrog and Gandalf€14.99TBCJanuary 2023
40632 Aragorn and ArwenTBCTBCJanuary 2023
TBC [D2C]TBCTBCTBC 2023

Keep an eye on Brick Fanatics for the latest on LEGO The Lord of the Rings – if it really is returning – and click here for a full rundown of every LEGO set currently rumoured for 2023.

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Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

One thought on “LEGO The Lord of the Rings 2023 – everything we know so far

  • 14/10/2022 at 19:10
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    I’m not trying to be a jerk, but… if you think that Arwen is a strange or obscure character choice, you should think again. She’s Aragorn’s girlfriend! However I would agree that we should get a something like Legolas and Gimli double pack before Arwen.

    Reply

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