Star Wars: Episode VII - The Last Jedi writer and director, Rian Johnson, promises that the Porgs will have a role to play in the story of the film. Unless they've been living under a rock for the last several months too, every Star Wars fan in the world has heard about the Porgs by now. The adorable, penguin-esque new additions to the cinematic universe were considered instant hits by most fans of the franchise, who have not only fallen in love with the look of the creatures but how they represent the continued world-building on display in The Last Jedi. It doesn't come as much of a surprise either, that all Porg-related toys and merchandise have become hot sellers since they first went on sale a few months ago.

However, there has been some criticism from a division of Star Wars fans that Porgs and some of the other notable creatures included in The Last Jedi are either nothing more than marketing decisions by Johnson and Disney, or examples of the film going too far into cute and cuddly territory. Although, the second trailer for The Last Jedi that aired last night, appeared to altogether disprove those latter concerns.

While speaking recently with Yahoo Movies as well, Rian Johnson explained how the idea for the Porgs actually came from the real-life puffins that live on Skellig Michael, the Irish island that was used as Luke's island in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. In addition, the writer/director promised fans that the Porgs do serve some, albeit likely small, role in the actual story of the film:

“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.”

Porgs Star Wars The Last Jedi

After several months of new facts about the Porgs and images of them being released by Disney and Lucasfilm, fans got to see the Porgs on display for the first real time in The Last Jedtrailer last night. To say that the creatures just managed to garner even more fans because of it too - would be an understatement, with fans going on to create dozens of Porg-centric Last Jedi parody posters following the trailer's premiere.

Now, whether or not the Porgs are actually used well in The Last Jedi, remains to be seen, and it's entirely possible the adorable creatures could be one of the biggest problems fans have with the film in the long run. At the same time, however, the Porgs are an example of how Rian Johnson and Lucasfilm are trying to be more experimental with their Star Wars world-building techniques in The Last Jedi, which was something many fans called for after The Force Awakens was released. All of that will, no doubt, be points of discussion amongst fans when The Last Jedi hits theaters later this December, though, and for the time being, the Porgs are currently shaping up to be one of the most unique and lovable things about the new film.

Source: Yahoo Movies

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