Originally published October 11, 2017. Updated December 18, 2019.
With the release of the second trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the internet officially has Porg fever. In case you missed it, at one point the trailer depicts Chewbacca flying the Millennium Falcon alongside a screaming Porg, which has made the weird seal-penguin-thing the topic of many a conversation this week.
So where did the idea of Porgs come from? In a universe full of bizarre alien species, the Porgs aren’t too strange, but we’ve been burned before with “comical” additions to the Star Wars universe (cough Jar Jar cough). So why include them?
What is their purpose? Speaking to Yahoo! Movies, Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson reveals that Porgs were inspired by the native Puffins that lived on the island they were filming on:
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is part of the island, we need to find the Star Wars version of this. And then just story-wise — not that they play a big part in the story — but I knew I wanted to find any source of comic relief I could on the island. And so they were very useful in terms of that. It wasn’t until we got the actual puppets on set and the whole crew reacted with ‘oh my god, they’re adorable!,’ and also then a few people in the crew were of giving them that suspicious side-eye of ‘these are cute, but are they too cute?’ But the overwhelming reaction on set was everybody loved the porgs. And I love ’em, so you know what? I get it if people are a little wary of cuteness in the Star Wars universe, but I personally love them, and I think they have their place in the movie.”
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What do you think of these pint-sized additions to the Star Wars universe? Let us know in the comments!
In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is set for release on December 14th in the UK and December 15th in the States and sees returning cast members Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Andy Serkis (Supreme Leader Snoke), Peter Mayhew and Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), Mike Quinn (Nien Nunb), Simon Pegg (Unkar Plutt), and Warwick Davis joined by new additions Jimmy Vee (Pan) as R2-D2, Kelly Marie Tran (Ladies Like Us) as Rose, and Benicio Del Toro (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Laura Dern (Jurassic Park).
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