This work investigates the compatibility of Zr2AlC MAX phase-based ceramics with liquid LBE, and proposes a mechanism to explain the observed local Zr2AlC/LBE interaction. The ceramics were exposed to oxygen-poor (CO 2.210 -10 mass%), static liquid LBE at 500°C for 1000 h. A new Zr2(Al,Bi,Pb)C MAX phase solid solution formed in-situ in the LBE-affected Zr2AlC grains. Out-of-plane ordering was favorable in the new solid solution, whereby A-layers with high and low-Bi/Pb contents alternated in the crystal structure, in agreement with first-principles calculations. Bulk Zr2(Al,Bi,Pb)C was synthesized by reactive hot pressing to study the crystal structure of the solid solution by neutron diffraction.