As anyone who's watched and loved Star Wars down through the years, there's any number of small, weird creatures that have become synonymous with the franchise.
There's the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi, the Jawas, Jabba The Hutt's little monkey-lizard thing (he's called Salacious Crumb, FYI), the Ugnaughts from The Empire Strikes Back, and now there's the Skellig Michael-inspired Porgs.
Look at them, and know they're going to be everywhere after December 15th.
According to director Rian Johnson, the Porgs were inspired by the very inhabitants of Skellig Michael - namely, the puffins. "If you go to Skellig at the right time of year, it’s just covered in puffins, and they’re the most adorable things in the world," Johnson explained to EW. "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."
Puffins reside on Skellig Michael from April almost every year, and join other birds such as shearwaters, petrels, fulmars and kittiwakes. The entire island is usually covered with the various birds, particularly the puffins, and feed on the locally-available food, which is most often sand-eel and sprat.
The Last Jedi hits Irish cinemas on December 15th.
Via EW
