StarWars.com recently shared the details of The Last Jedi‘s new adorable creature, the porgs, and I’m in love. They are huggable, curious birds with big eyes, and my love knows no bounds.
The porgs were first spotted in the behind-the-scenes featurette for The Last Jedi, but we weren’t given any details or background on them. In one shot, a porg briefly opened and closed its eyes on a workbench, and in another, one of the set workers gently floofed a porg’s wing.
A porg looking for a hug, which I will gladly give it
Now, I understand some of you are wary. As io9 rightly points out, the Star Wars franchise has a tricky history with “cute” creatures. In the original trilogy, the Ewoks became infamous as a marketing ploy to sell toys to children, even though they were actually scary as hell. In the prequels, Jar-Jar was intended as a “comic relief” creature who would appeal to younger audiences, but he just ruined every scene by being a racist caricature.
The porgs, though, have solved Star Wars‘ creature problem with one simple fix: they don’t talk. They are “the Star Wars version of puffins.” So we don’t have to worry about them jabbering in a performative accent or transforming into teeth-baring guerrilla fighters. They’re just little puffin-cat-owl things that I would like to eventually form a large nesting colony in my home.
Pablo Hidalgo, who works with Lucasfilm Story Group, just gets it. In his StarWars.com interview, he doesn’t try to sell the comic relief of the porgs. He doesn’t give them a civilization. He just said, “Porgs are cute. You fall into those deep, soulful eyes. I think a lot of people are going to want a porg as a pet.”
Yes. We are.
This is my future, as foretold on Twitter, and I have embraced it.
Actual footage of me loving and caring for my porg pic.twitter.com/41ujkxJdL1
— Kate (@jadelotus_) July 16, 2017
Porgs look cute and I want to feed them bread crumbs from my hands. This is all I need from a movie creature, Star Wars.
(Via io9 and StarWars.com; images via screengrab)
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