At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 this week, LEGO and Disney (DIS) unveiled new bricks that will lead LEGO Star Wars into its commercial future in a galaxy here, here, now.

LEGO ‘SMART Bricks’ will roll out in LEGO Star Wars sets as early as March 2026, per LEGO’s official press release. In barest terms, here’s how Tom Donaldson, Senior VP & Head of Creative Play Lab at LEGO, characterized this launch:

“The launch of LEGO SMART Play brings creativity, technology, and storytelling together to make building worlds and stories even more engaging, and all without a screen,” Donaldson stated in LEGO’s Jan. 5 Statement.

I’ll briefly lay out what SMART Bricks actually are (and actually do) below, then delve into the stakes weighing on their success and how it will influence the future of Star Wars.

What Are LEGO SMART Bricks

LEGO SMART Bricks are new, technology-infused bricks that give builders novel light, sound, and sensor options for their kits and creations.

“The new LEGO SMART Brick is packed with technologies that bring play to life,” Star Wars’ official statement reported Monday Jan. 5, “Including sensors, accelerometers, light sensing and a sound sensor as well as a miniature speaker driven by an onboard synthesiser, and much more, in addition to easy wireless charging.

Here are the first kits hitting stores on March 1, 2026:

LEGO Star Wars SMART Brick launch sets

• LEGO Star Wars Luke’s Red Five X-Wing (1x SMART Brick, 2x SMART Minifigures, 5x SMART Tags)
• LEGO Star Wars SMART Play: Darth Vader’s TIE fighter (1x SMART Brick, 2x SMART Minifigures)
• LEGO Star Wars SMART Play: Throne Room Duel & A-Wing (1x SMART Brick, 3x SMART Minifigures, 1x SMART Tag) Source: Star Wars Official News

Both Disney and LEGO believe that SMART Bricks will be the most significant LEGO innovation in decades – and one that will help it survive our attention competitive, screen-ruled reality.

Disney needs LEGO Star Wars to succeed

LEGO’s official statement explains that SMART bricks, as part of the ‘SMART’ Play Sets, in the SMART Play System, with SMART Tags and SMART Minifigures (don’t worry, I’m making a point here), will push LEGO into a bold, new plastic future.

The level of branding, the high-profile release at a major tech conference, and the concurrent statements from Star Wars, Disney, and LEGO (linked respectively) indicate how integral the LEGO Star Wars brand is to all parties involved. LEGO’s choice to debut its SMART Bricks in Star Wars sets alone should tell you how highly the brickmakers value their brand partnership.

The plot thickens further. Keen observers noted that Dave Filoni, Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm (and ‘Ahsoka’ creator/ The Mandalorian steward) was tapped to help unveil the hot new bricks alongside the LEGO brass at CES 2026. Why do we care? Well, because Kathleen Kennedy is about to be replaced as President of Lucasfilm and, as you may have put together, Filoni is favored to succeed Kennedy as Lucasfilm’s top creative, according to Parade’s latest reporting.

If that wasn’t enough, add the teeny, tiny fact that Disney CEO Bob Iger, having long hinted that he may step down in 2026, is also likely to name a successor soon. Throw in Disney’s controversial introduction of dynamic ticket pricing for their US parks and the unusual pressure on their 2026 film slate, and it becomes clear why success in 2026 is of outsized importance for the Mouse House.

Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy at the ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ premiereJesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Photo by Jesse Grant on Getty Images

Star Wars SMART Bricks enjoying a popular rollout would go a long way to helping Disney hit their lofty 2026 targets. A solid or growing LEGO revenue stream would take some pressure off of Disney’s Entertainment (Films, TV) and Experiences (Parks, Cruises) divisions as the year progresses towards ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, Marvel’s December capstone and overall Disney bellwether.

Question is, when the dust of 2026 settles, what a Dave Filoni-led Lucasfilm will mean for the future of the galaxy far, far, away.

‘The Mandalorian & Grogue’ movie release crucial for Disney Star Wars future

Believe it or not, the last Star Wars movie to hit theaters was ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ back in 2019, the final year of the first Trump presidency. Yes, there have been TV hits (‘The Mandalorian’ pop-culturally and ‘Andor’ critically) since then, but it has been a minute, y’all.

Suffice to say, Disney is quite eager for a theatrical hit, especially given their – count ’em – eight paused or cancelled Star Wars film projects in the interim.

Unreleased Disney Star Wars film projects under Kathleen Kennedy

• Rian Johnson’s trilogy (2017, Rian Johnson, unknown/stalled)
• ‘Rogue Squadron’ (2020, Patty Jenkins, removed from launch schedule)
• David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’s trilogy (2022, Benioff and Weiss, deal cancelled)
• Taika Waititi’s untitled movie (2023, Taika Waititi, indefinite hold)
• Rey sequel (2023, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, no script/still hope)
• James Mangold untitled movie (2023, James Mangold, unknown/stalled)
• Dave Filoni’s movie (2020, Dave Filoni, this one may still happen)
• ‘The Hunt for Ben Solo’ (2025, Steven Soderberg, rejected by Disney) Source: Polygon

We’ll circle back to that Dave Filoni movie in a second. For now, lets focus on the one Star Wars movie that survived development and will make the big screen this year: ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’, which will come to theaters nationwide May 22, 2026. Jon Favreau, Lucasfilm’s safest pair of hands, directed the film. The choice makes sense, given the possible executive shakeups in play; Disney are essentially running the football with their sure thing director and previously viral (see: Baby Yoda aka Grogu) TV property.

‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ has a high floor and moderate ceiling – it is certain to be profitable but probably won’t become a surprise sensation. However, to paraphrase young Podracing Anakin, the real fun begins when you consider the potential of a post-2026 future under Filoni. More Disney:AMC stock secretly relies on these upcoming Disney filmsWalt Disney is the only movie company that mattersDisney makes bold statement on Warner Bros. purchase

As I mentioned, Filoni created the hit series ‘Ahsoka’ and hit animated show ‘The Bad Batch’, and also served as a producer, director, writer (and general major creative voice aside Favreau) for the Mando-verse (‘The Mandalorian’, ‘The Book of Boba Fett, ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’, & more). As such, Filoni’s hands-on experience, as well as his history as a successful collaborator with Favreau, bodes well for Lucasfilm and the future of Star Wars onscreen. The potential paths forward are near limitless – all signs point to a wrapping up of Mando-verse in the next couple of years, but Filoni could take the universe any number of directions from there.

Undoubtedly, LEGO and LEGO Star Wars will remain a huge cash cow (and important co-brand) for a Lucasfilm with Filoni at the helm. That is, assuming SMART Bricks help them survive 2026 and get a couple new, sure-to-succeed, movies in development.

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