One of the things that makes
Star Wars so iconic is the wide variety of weird creatures that inhabit the galaxy. The behind the scenes videos and trailers for
Star Wars: The Last Jedi have already given us brief glimpses of some of the new alien beasties we'll see in the upcoming film, and fans already seem to be pretty divided on one of them.
Porgs, the bug-eyed puffin-like birds that stole the show in the latest trailer, have given some fans flashbacks to other divisive creatures in
Star Wars canon, like Gungans and Ewoks. But while we can expect porg toys to fly off the shelves this holiday season, we don't really know too much about the little guys.
Neal Scanlan, Oscar-winning special effects veteran and creature head for the new
Star Wars films, recently talked with
Empire about what we can expect from these creatures in the new movie.
Scanlan talked specifically about the porg we see in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, and its similarities to Chewbacca, saying "
that porg in particular shows some very Wookiee traits in the way he’s coloured; his patterning is very similar to Chewie’s.”
He also shed some light on the Caretakers, who live alongside the porgs on the ancient planet of Ahch-To with Luke Skywalker.
"With Ahch-To, it felt like the only creatures that would ever exist on this island were those indigenous to it, where very few other species and DNA would have reached them...So they’re an extrapolation from the porgs and have bird-like feet, but they’re a further developed race.”
Which new creatures are you most interested to see in Star Wars: The Last Jedi? Share your thoughts in the comments.