As 75419 Death Star dwarfs all other LEGO Star Wars sets and actually looks a little like a small moon, Creative Lead Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Design Manager César Soares reveal how they determined the set’s scale and size were determined during development.
LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series 75419 Death Star is the largest ever set from the theme, which is appropriate given that the space station is the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. It is available to preorder from LEGO.com now ahead of its release on October 1. If you preorder it early, you can get a free gift with purchase set; 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack.
“We call it the Death Star. There is no better name and the day is coming soon when it will be unleashed,” warns Galen Erso in his message to his daughter Jyn as she tries to find the plans for the Imperial super weapon. Armed with a laser powered by kyber crystals capable of destroying an entire planet, the Death Star is at an almost unimaginable scale for a space station. So the LEGO Star Wars design team came to create 75419 Death Star, multiple factors played into determining the size of this new version.
“We’ve done two Death Star models before and we wanted to have something totally different. The first sketch model was created with this cross-section and we could just see that it offered some great opportunities,” says Creative Lead Jens Kronvold Frederiksen. “One of the really great things about it is, even though it’s bigger and has more pieces than the previous versions, it actually doesn’t require as much space. That’s really the beauty of the cross-section, is that you can actually display it in a relatively smaller space compared to a big sphere.”
Get even more detail in our exclusive interview with LEGO Star Wars Design Manager César Soares in Issue 132 of the monthly LEGO magazine! To be ready for the new issue, take out a great value subscription package and get a top quality 116 page magazine every single month. It’s much more than Imperial propaganda!
“We thought about many options when we were playing with the idea of having a new Death Star,” continues LEGO Design Manaer César Soares, who worked on developing this space station for over 14 months. “We considered many, many iterations until we decided to go with this cross-section version. I think that if you had something that was covered with panels, you would lose a little bit of both worlds, because either you would have something where the rooms are hidden or you have the panels open so it’s not as neat on display.”
Once the cross-section was decided upon, it was up to César to then figure out the overall size of the set. “We did an initial sketch model and the size was more or less the same as this finished one. We were immediately impressed by how you could have a lot of the rooms that we wanted to incorporate,” adds César. “Then it was just a matter of figuring it out how tall we wanted each floor to be, like how the hangar bay needed to be at least two stories high, and that dictated the overall size of the Death Star.
“We also only have a limited amount of sloped elements, which need to be used on the sides,” says César, referring to the near circular frame around the edge of the model. “So the first thing I did was print out a big cardboard circle close to the sketch model size, then try to figure out how big we could go using slopes.”
Yet with big size also comes a big price tag. Not only is 75419 Death Star the biggest Star Wars set of all time, it’s also the most expensive LEGO model ever produced. This wasn’t at the forefront of the design team’s considerations though. “From a design point of view, we just wanted to put in as much as we could to make the ultimate Death Star,” says Jens. “However, we were also aware that there is a limit of how high we can go with price. It was connected to the development phase, but our main focus was simply to get the most into it, like as many minifigures as possible.”
“We also didn’t design this set to be $1,000,” adds César, reiterating the point. “For a lot of technical reasons, like the height of the floors, it just ended up being this size. This cross-section was optimal for our goals and our objectives. And then the price came later. It’s not like we were deliberately designing the set to be this price.”
Even with its galactic price tag, the team still believe that 75419 Death Star balances both collectibility and playability. “We’re totally aware that with our two previous Death Stars, they were high on many kids’ wishlists, but they were too complicated to build alone,” says Jens, referring to the more play oriented styles of 10188 and 75159. “So if we can get families building together then it becomes a joint thing. With this one, where you’re building sections, more people can build at the same time. But then the final model is like a dollhouse, with so many play features and functions. So hopefully it will also stimulate kids that want to roleplay with this model, or with their parents, or with their friends.”
If you’re eager to build your own space station when 75419 Death Star releases on October 1, 2025, then preorder it via our affiliate links to help support the work we do at Blocks.
Did you know about this the second the LEGO Group announced it? To get new LEGO set announcements straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter. Of course, if you really want to upgrade your LEGO hobby for the true insider experience, take out a subscription to Blocks, the monthly LEGO magazine for fans.