Meet the Adorable Porg Creatures From STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI That Live With Luke Skywalker
Today the internet is buzzing about the cutest little creatures to come out of the Star Wars universe since the Ewoks. We got our first look a the Porgs in the behind-the-scenes sizzle reel for Star Wars: The Last Jedi at D23 last month. Porgs are the small penguin/hamster hybrid-like creatures who live on Ach-To, the planet where Luke Skywalker is in hiding at the end of The Force Awakens. Then today writer/director Rian Johnson told Entertainment Weekly more about the Porgs.
Johnson explained that the Porgs have a very real world inspiration, saying,
"If you go to Skellig (Michael--the island in Ireland where the final scene of The Force Awakens was shot) at the right time of year, it’s just covered in puffins, and they’re the most adorable things in the world. So when I was first scouting there, I saw these guys, and I was like, oh, these are part of the island. And so the Porgs are in that realm."
So those of you rolling your eyes about Star Wars including yet another species of adorable aliens need to know it is probably for good reason. Johnson revealed to Fandango at Disney's D23 Expo that The Last Jedi is heavily influenced by Return of the Jedi. He said just because The Last Jedi is the middle film in the third Star Wars Trilogy doesn't necessarily mean that it will match the dark tone of The Empire Strike's Back.
Re: Porgs/Ewoks -- Rian Johnson did tell me that RETURN OF THE JEDI was an influence on #TheLastJedi
— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) August 9, 2017
(also, for the record, I dig Ewoks) https://t.co/wBqy1KQP8U
At #D23Expo, I asked @rianjohnson how he'd compare #TheLastJedi to the other #StarWars movies. Here's what he said... pic.twitter.com/2cVDfBbVD2
— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) July 18, 2017
So will the Porgs be as prominent as the Ewoks in The Last Jedi? We don't know, but they are undeniably cute and unless one of them pilots the Millennium Falcon I think we won't have any reason to complain about them.