The Design Secrets Behind the Porgs in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Over the course of Rey’s search for Luke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she finally found the Jedi master hiding out on the remote planet of Ahch-To. What we’re also going to find in The Last Jedi is something wonderful we weren’t expecting; the planet is inhabited by many interesting species, but the most adorable of all are the porgs.
The cuddly pocket sized creatures with their enormous eyes were definitely designed with the “aw” factor in mind, but their creators also took evolution into account. The legendary Neal Scanlan, who leads the Creature Workshop on the Star Wars films, dished to Empire magazine some detailed background about the adorable fluff balls’ family tree. They are actually an ancestor to the more amphibious looking caretakers.
The caretakers. Courtesy of Lucasfilm/Walt Disney Studios
“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,” Scanlan said. “So they’re an extrapolation from the porgs and have bird-like feet, but they’re a further developed race.”
Scanlan’s comments also reveal just how remote Luke’s hideout actually is. Planet hopping is no big deal in the Star Wars universe, and there are a lot of transients in the galaxy far far away. Ahch-To sounds like it doesn’t get a lot of visitors, so it was a good place to take refuge.
The master creature creator went on to say that the screaming porg from the trailer has taken on some of Chewbacca’s features. “That porg in particular shows some very Wookiee traits in the way he’s coloured; his patterning is very similar to Chewie’s,” Scanlan explained. The two seem to have bonded on board the Millennium Falcon. Do the porgs have a touch of chameleon, or is this a case of best friends growing to look more alike as they spend time together?
If you can believe it, we’re now only six weeks away from the December 15 release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi where we’ll finally get to see the porgs in all their glory.
