Review: LEGO Icons Project Hail Mary (11389)

LEGO Icons Project Hail Mary 11389 New Release Review Brick Banter - 2026 February 2

From book to movie to LEGO, what is Project Hail Mary?

For fans of the 2021 book, this is a set that bares no introduction. But Project Hail Mary isn’t a name that many know – so what is it?

Andy Weir, the author of ‘The Martian’, released an incredibly well selling book called ‘Project Hail Mary’ in 2021. With a story following a lone astronaut in what is otherwise a ‘suicide mission’ to save the planet earth from our Sun ‘dimming’ and preventing an extinction event due to happen in 30 years.

It’s an incredibly interesting premise, and the book is filled with lots of interesting dynamic conversations about free will, purpose and what happens when isolated. The premise did so well, in fact, that the book turned into a movie, due to launch later this year.

This is probably the fastest time LEGO has made a LEGO set to coincide with a unique movie property since its conception. The last time we saw something like this was in 2001 when LEGO Harry Potter debuted, almost exactly 5 years after its book launch.

So what is this set? How does it hold up? Read on!

Hail Mary Spacecraft

Straight off the bat I need to preface this – this set is incredibly technic focused. I am not a technic guy, and it was quite a surprise to find that most of the model was technic and only the last few bags were traditional bricks. This isn’t knocking technic, but I know some people don’t find this enjoyable to build.

Well, the set to most people probably looks like a really confusing shape and isn’t clear what it is. This model is of the Project Hail Mary ship, and its ability to shift from its flight-mode to centrifuge-mode. Without getting too heavy into the science of it all, the idea is that the central shape of the model is the crew quarters, whereas the three posts act as thrusters. When in flight, the ship moves as one, but when ready to act, the central crew quarters separates from the thrusters, rotates inwards, and then spins in unison with the thrusters in a circular shape.

Essentially, the ship rotates around in space with the thrusters as the opposing ‘weight’, rotating like a centrifuge. This gives gravity to the ship.

Now, wildly, the LEGO set also does this (not the gravity part!). It is genuinely confusing to me as to how they manage to make the set do this, but I am seriously impressed.

By rotating the crank at the bottom of the stand clockwise, the crew quarters eject, turn 90 degrees, and then the whole model spins around. Spinning counterclockwise, the model stops spinning, the crew quarters turn back inwards, and the model reset to spaceship mode.

It is seriously impressive, but without all the context behind it, you’d have no idea what this is supposed to be doing. That’s why I’m here I guess.

Ryland Grace minifigure and Rocky

The LEGO minifigure for this set is Ryland Grace, otherwise our first appearance of Ryan Gosling as a figure. We get two faces that we can use – one with glasses and one without. The figure is also incredibly detailed over the torso and legs, and feels really high quality. The helmet, to my understanding, is also exclusive in this colour here. Ryland also has a scanner for an accessory, as well as a printed 1×1 tile tape measure element.

As for Rocky, this creature is a being that cannot perceive the world like humans do. It’s base ends up connecting with Ryland Grace’s through a shield element, which is meant to represent a scene where the two of them begin to work together. Rocky contains two printed elements in their design, and very unique in their design.

Verdict

Overall, this is a set that fans of the book will really enjoy. Or the movie, for that matter.

But as a generic LEGO fan or even an entry level LEGO builder, this is a technic-dense model. I feel like people who aren’t normally LEGO people that pick up this set are genuinely going to struggle putting it together. It isn’t as enjoyable of experience to build with, but it is a serious cool play function.

My final thoughts are mixed. It’s an incredibly well done model, but it is a weird crossover set. I’m not sure how well this set will go on shelves, as I can’t see a wide intended audience. It isn’t a set that I would opt for, nor a set that I would buy for someone who loves space LEGO. Non-LotR fans can still appreciate Rivendell the same way casual Disney fans would like LEGO Stitch. This requires levels on context and understanding to appreciate, and feels too ‘locked-in’ to a target audience.

It’s a miss from me, but it’s a seriously cool function!