Meet the Caretakers from Ahch-To and More Porgs!
In yet another new article about The Last Jedi, EW’s Anthony Breznican takes a closer look at the creatures that inhabit the mysterious island of Ahch-To, the planet where Luke took refuge after failing to train a new order of Jedi. We all know who the porgs are by now, but this article also gives us a first look at the Caretakers!
Breznican’s massive Entertainment Weekly coverage of The Last Jedi continues, but this time to Ahch-To. Before we even proceed, here is Chewie with a porg in the Falcon (we are tempted to just simply stop right here):
Ok we’ll keep going, first here are a few new details about the porgs:
These penguin-like wide-eyed creatures are native to the planet of Ahch-To, site of the first Jedi temple.
The porgs are puppets created through Neal Scanlan’s creature shop, with wide black eyes and furry, flapping wings.
Writer-director Rian Johnson said that although Luke Skywalker retreated to Ahch-To, he didn’t want the Jedi to be alone.
Rian Johnson also revealed that the puffins, the real inhabitants of the actual Skellig Michael Island where the Ahch-To scenes were filmed, were the inspiration behind the porgs
“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 tells 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.”
Before we give them all of your love and attention, there is another alien life-form inhabiting the island host to the first Jedi temple!
THE CARETAKERS
Johnson gives us a rundown about these additional creatures featured in The Last Jedi, ones that are caretakers not of Luke, but of the island and it’s structures. It appears that they aren’t exactly superfans of Jedi master either, and have been there for thousands of years, long before Jedi master Yoda was in diapers, to put it in perspective. Johnson explains who they are and how they were brought to life in the film:
“They’re kind of these sort of fish-bird type aliens who live on the island,” Johnson says. “They’ve been there for thousands of years, and they essentially keep up the structures on the island.”
The Caretakers are slightly more anthropomorphic than the porgs. They’re animated with a person inside (Daisy Ridley said a friend played one of them) and they wear clothes and speak in an alien tongue.
“They’re all female, and I wanted them to feel like a remote sort of little nunnery,” Johnson says. “Neal Scanlan’s crew designed them, and costume designer Michael Kaplan made these working clothes that also reflected sort of a nun-like, spartan sort of existence.”
They can communicate with Luke through what Johnson describes as “a blubbery sort of Scottish fish talk” but they’re not thrilled to have him hanging around. Johnson says they “tolerate” his presence.
JEDI CAVE PAINTINGS
As we saw in the first teaser which debuted at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, we see a tree of some sort, many deeming the “Force tree” with books inside marked with the symbol of Journal of the Whills, one of the original documents created by George Lucas about the origin of the Jedi religion. Without getting too heavily into it, Johnson did say he wanted to bring it back to the forefront in some capacity, while also making it clear Ahch-To is ancient and rich in the history of the religion:
“Hopefully it will be fun to discover in the context of the movie,” he says. “My notion was this is a place that goes all the way back. This is where the cave paintings are.”
Johnson said he had to resist the urge to make it look too clean, too modern. It had to be something more primitive.
“The first designs that we had were temples, and I just kept pushing it back and saying, ‘No, think earlier, think earlier. Let’s push this all the way back and see how deep we can go into the foundations of where this all started.’”
Okay so Chewie and a little porg in the Falcon? Sounds like we may have a permanent little passenger leaving the island for the rest of this trilogy! We know what everyone thinks of the porgs, now how about the caretakers? Around for thousands of years! Ahch-To is becoming more interesting by the day and we can’t wait to hear more about it and explore it more when The Last Jedi comes out in a mere four months!
Here’s Breznican’s video on the Caretakers and the porgs:
For the full article make sure to go to Entertainment Weekly.
You know we’ll be discussing this on The SWNN podcast The Resistance Broadcast this week as well! You can find me searching how to buy a real porg (or puffin) on Twitter talking about all of this at @JohnnyHoey and be sure to follow our official SWNN account at @starwarsnewsnet and The Resistance Broadcast at @RBatSWNN.
“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.”
John Hoey is the Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net and the host of The Resistance Broadcast podcast
"For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is."
Fish-bird aliens who dress like nuns. Ahhh, mmmmkay, well…
If it’s not weird, they’re not trying hard enough. This is Star Wars.
Fans’ definition of ‘new’ varies from parsec to parsec, apparently.
In that case, they are trying too hard. The fish-bird-nun looks ridiculous. I thought it was a joke/photoshopped.
Cool your jets until you see them in the movie. I bet Darth Vader would have looked pretty ridiculous to anyone in 1976 who hadn’t seen him in context yet.
Step aside, Ewoks! There’s a new lovable kiddy doll in town!
The porgs look like a cross between a penguin and a puppy – two of the cutest animals on the planet. As cutesy as the teddy bear-esque Ewoks were, they can’t compete with that….
“Alexa… Show me what a cross between a penguin and a puppy looks like”…
“Puppy Penguin Baby. Puppy…..Penguin…..Baby.”
I just had a feeling that Porgs came from Puffins.
Were you in a coma 😉
I was focused on Dunkirk 😉
I swear it looks like Chewie has a feather hanging out of his mouth in the BTS. Porg might not be a passenger but a snack.
LOL, but it’s got to be his pliot headset. Does that mean the porg is leaving the planet?
I almost see the porgs becoming like the gizka from KOTOR on the Falcon, and can you just imagine how pissed chewie would be?
Perhaps the Caretakers actually farm-raise and eat the porgs like chicken.
ewoks weren’t cute enough. Porgs are japonese-cartoon-cute, and they’ll destroy the sith
Looks like Ahch-to is where Vogon women retreat to avoid hearing their husbands’ poetry.
Pretty sure one of them was my 1st grade teacher.
Just a question to know thoughts: why reveal this creatures now?
So Star Wars fans can debate and speculate about 5 minutes of screen time that they’ll have.
And then somehow still complain that they got too much hype and not enough screen time. And that they aren’t original or new enough to be worth Star Wars’ time.
Just trying to get all the complaints covered.
BUT WHERE ARE THE OLD ALIENS. WHY IS IT ALWAYS NEW ALIENS????
Unlearn what you have learned.
Let it go.
(Oh god….bracing for the Elsa memes….)
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ab88117264c0fa6af3d4c1c0f1f6134923ab8ac9c085b2b0ed52b2defd90dbd.jpg
I’d love to see old aliens as well, but think about it. Most of the unique aliens that we saw even in the OT were exclusive to each of the movies that they were in.
Exactly. Notice that some of the first things that leaked about TFA was the Kanjiklub gang. I doubt the caretakers will be much more than background creatures, perhaps with a single line of dialogue. I think their design is interesting, but I doubt they’ll have much screen time.
Force Friday is coming, they need to sell toys
I’m pretty underwhelmed with both the pictures and the descriptions of the creatures in this article. If porgs become wildly popular I don’t want to hear fans complaining about Ewoks anymore. And the Caretakers look a little TOO much like nuns. The headdress takes it just a little too far….
It is funny because i never minded the Ewoks. Yeah, do I think some of the sequences with them were a bit too long/ them taking out so many Troopers was far-fetched? Yeah. But I was never bored with them. Heck, they were badass. Though, a part of me would have loved to have that planet been Kashyskk.
The Ewoks were far from Lucas’s most inspired creation, but they weren’t as bad as many fans make them out to be. These porgs look even more cutesy and kid-friendly than the often maligned Ewoks. I can’t understand the logic behind someone who hates Ewoks but likes these porg things.
I don’t think the Porgs will be attacking any bad guy. The problem with the Ewoks is not the design, it’s their role in the movie
Eh, Stormtroopers in the OT have always been weaksauce. Could never shoot worth a damn and their armor – as cool looking as it was – never seemed to protect them from anything. One laser blast and they went down (which begs the question why they even bothered to wear it). They were just faceless fodder for the good guys to plow through on their way to victory. So a bunch of teddy bears whooped ’em, not too surprising given their track record up to that point…
The Ewoks were amazing entertainment. Their rustic fight against the empire was inspiring, and it was clear as the fight progressed that the Evil Empire would have beaten the poor Ewoks without the Rebels help. People act like the Ewoks were just MAULING through the empire. Didn’t happen, watch the film.
I agree.
The Caretakers look like Stitch had sex with the characters from the early 90’s TV show Dinosaurs.
ughh. The Shadow over Ahch-to
Suddenly, naming Luke’s planet after a sneezing sound makes sense…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M_wR9UEKos
Actually the turtle does remind me a lot of the caretakers! Very similar eyes, except the caretaker’s eyes are black.
Whoa, good call. I believe her name was Morla. Still love the Neverending Story…
Most fascinating. I am not going to lie; I adore the Porgs. I want a plushie of one of those things. Normally, I am not for cute things but man these things beat out the Ewoks for that. My hope is that they won’t absorb too much screen time, much like the Ewoks. Not that I hated them. But ROTJ, even though it is my favorite SWs film, suffers from pacing issues.
The Caretakers, though, fascinate me. They kind of remind me of the Selkrath from KOTOR due to their amphibian nature. But the fact they are females and have taken care of the temples, long before Yoda is something worth noteworthy. One of the reasons why I am excited about the TLJ is that we are finally getting an origin of the Jedi Temple. Yeah, Legends fleshed this out and I love that. But really, an actual, canon origin.
And the Caretakers could very well, among other things, be that gateway. The articles mentions how they aren’t too big of the fans of Jedi? Why? I have a strong hunch that is tied to the origin of the Jedi. That these alien beings were perhaps some of the first aliens the Jedi communicated via the Force and in turn formed a mutual bond with. But then something happened. Something drastic that caused the Caretakers to change.
Who knows what it could be? But the fact that RJ put them in and that they are female nuns in alien form isn’t a coincidence. So yeah, I am super excited about these aliens. The puppetry on them looks amazing and leagues ABOVE TFA’s puppets.
Not that they were bad, but I still got a rubbery sensation from them. Here, they look a lot more natural. Not shocking given how the production designers no doubt have time to improve their craft. 🙂
“Legends fleshed this out and I love that. But really, an actual, canon origin” You know, just five years ago ‘legends’ was ‘canon’
Very much so. Given how I got into SWs because of Legends namely KOTOR and the Tales of the Jedi comic book. 🙂
Kotor is amazing, I hope when this round of 6 movies is done, they consider doing something based in the Old Republic.
“You know, just five years ago ‘legends’ was ‘canon'”
And, thankfully, now it’s little more than toiler paper,
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3898420e4cfa04c2aebb45ff83550618f72be68133955d7fedd10036eed7f29e.jpg
Toilet paper in which Disney still borrows ideas from, now and again.
“The articles mention how they aren’t too big of fans of Jedi.”
No, not really. The article says “they’re not thrilled to have (Luke) hanging around.” It just mentions Luke specifically, not necessarily all Jedi. Maybe old Luke is a dick….
Or, maybe they’re tired of him having been there for so long, moping about. lol
Good point. But even then so, the fact they are said to be older than Yoda; no doubt they must have been around when the First Jedi existed.
“But ROTJ, even though it is my favorite SWs film, suffers from pacing issues.”
Funny, I always thought Empire had more pacing issues than ROTJ (ANH had the best pacing of all the OT films I believe). I always thought ROTJ had pretty decent pacing. Now, ROTJ did have greater shifts in TONE in my opinion. The inter-cutting of the darker Throne Room stuff with the much more light-hearted Ewok stuff could be quite a shift in gears. I love both movies though, warts and all.
I’m just glad Mort finally got his big break https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a48f70eaaa5a2ddfc54bde8cee4ea6ab0c4e260379a86d504d5b4e89560eeaa.jpg
That porg has a serious case of Puss-in-Boots face…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b1043878186e01da02bd8c081224ba4a58a4ebcf4e09bb3692185904c7a02093.gif
Okay…. so i have been pronouncing it ‘Oc-toe’, just like in this video. But i have heard it pronounced as ‘ah-ch Toe’. So anyone have the actual pronunciation of Ach-To? is it a ‘k’ sound, or a ‘ch’ sound?
I’m going with the way the guy who interviewed Rian Johnson says it.
Go with the Scottish. “Ach, me lad! Watter ye duuin’ in muh swahmp?!”
SMH. They really disneyfied this one…
More like RianJohnsonified.
We do not know that yet, if anything more like PT. But I am fine as long as it is not ESB.
At this point I will be delighted if it’s not ESB.
Yeah, George Lucas would never have tolerated cute creatures.
Ewoks were a primitive tribal culture that had something to fight for. This is a puffin sitting on the dashboard of the MF. Cute is different from endearing. Ewoks were endearing and served a purpose in the story. Difficult to imagine the purpose the Porgs play. I hope that I am proven wrong and they contribute to the story. Otherwise, they are an artifact that should have remained in the background. Same with the fish-mole nuns.
I think the “purpose” of the porgs will be to (1) add a biological atmosphere to Ahch-to just like puffins on Skellig Michael and (2) to comically annoy Chewie.
Cuteness is an evolutionary survival trait; it would be absurd to think the GFFA is devoid of cute creatures.
I love the idea about biological diversity and annoying Chewie. I just don’t want to see one flying around in the MF….
I think it would actually be a cool idea to have some of them try to steal some of Luke’s food and he just casually uses the force to let them slowly hower away from their prescious food 🙂
And to keep the kids awake while Luke and Rey are talking about The Force/the past which will involve lots and lots of dialogue.
I know right.
Disney’s got a lot of nerve putting these cute creatures in MY STAR WARS. It’s like they’re trying to sell TOYS or something, which they would have NEVER done had our lord and savior George Lucas been behind this. Man, I’M ANGRY. #MakeStarWarsGreatAgain
I’m really on the fence about these caretakers. I will have to see how it goes in the context of the movie. I was really liking the idea that Luke had been in total solitude for years. I hope these caretakers don’t have a big role. I think they could take things too far with these creatures very easily. Though I do like that they don’t care for Luke and “tolerate” his presence. This idea gives me hope.
I agree. It seems to me that Rian Johnson is packing this film with a far too many unnecessary distractions: CARETAKERS, ROSE, etc !
Uhhhhhh…. WHAT? It’s F-ing Star Wars. There’s creatures on every planet.
I dig the change, it differentiates itself from ESB. For all we know these guys might be in a quick scene like Teedo was in TFA.
I actually find this refreshing. Apart from the Cantina scene, there were very few prominently featured aliens in VII.
What the hell is your problem with Rose. Maybe I have missed soemthing but as far as I know there’s nothing wrong with introducing new characters and noone knows the role she is going to play in the new movie.
WTF is your problem with Rose?
Solitude on a planet that appears rich with life from what we’ve see would be wrong IMO. He can still be in relative solitude, the crazy old man living on the outskirts of the Caretakers, only permitted to explore certain parts of the ancient temple.
Me, ten days ago: “I’m seeing Chewie hanging out by the Falcon as we saw in the D23 reel and getting harassed by cute, but somewhat annoying little porgs.”
Totally called it.
Yep. I’m also going to call that the one that winds up on the Falcon is a stowaway, and got brought on by accident. Presto: Additional comic relief throughout the film between Chewie and the adventure porg.
Yeah, I really hope they don’t modernize it. I hope it’s like Chewie versus Backpack 3PO; charming and enjoyable with quick witty dialog and minimal slapstick. But since these things can’t talk, looks like it’ll be nothing but slapstick.
The “nuns” look like those dinosaurs in that old sitcom tv show 20-or-so-years ago.
Not the Mama
I’ve thought Johnson might be trolling us ever since I saw the picture of Finn on the magical horse. Now I’m not so sure. Wasn’t there a toy that looked just like a Porg that was really popular a decade ago?
https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/official-furby/images/5/5d/Black_White_Furby_whit_brown_eyes.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131110170718
I’ve thought Johnson might be trolling us ever since I saw the picture of Finn on the magical horse. Now I’m not so sure. Are the porgs not just Furby’s?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c01e2287a188dd9806798af713a17ea6f4147f610039a386998a872a6a3422be.jpg
I am okay with the nuns, they look fine imo a least the right one. But I repeat what I have said a couple of times now. Rian is really bad at picking creatures. I mean he worked with the same team that created the aliens from R1 and TFA. If you compare the spacemonkey with the porgs in terms of believable anatomy or Quiggold with the caretakers you’ll see what I’m talking about
Are you seriously complaining about “believable anatomy” in a Star Wars film?
I thought I had seen everything, but the world just keeps surprising me….
Then apparently you have never read abotu creature design or you would know that no matter what type of monster you design it needs to be believable in terms bonestructure, muscleplacement, etc. The Porgs are too round and their eyes are placed to much outside of their skull imo.
Watch a Star Wars film and then please tell me how any of those creatures are even remotely believable, especially Ithorians. I’ll wait.
Of course older designs are not as well done as the creatures in the Disney area but still. A Rancor is based on a gorilla, his anatomy is believable. A Tauntaun could totally run arround somewhere in Alaska. For what they are Ithorians work because you can imagine working muscles and bones beneath their skin. If you look at the porgs however their bodies are not shaped in an anatomically believable way. Their faces are designed to appeal to children rather than look believable. Just how ridiculous is it to have gigantic eyes at the front of the face that lack protective eyesockets? If you compare the two aliens below you will see that they have a similar facial structure as far as the shape of the mouth, the shape and placement of the nostrils and the shape of the cranium is concerned. If you covered the R1 alien with feathers and enlarged the eyes its face would almost look like that of a porg yet it is believable because It has visible cheekbones, believable placment of the eyes, etc. The porg is a good desing for an animated movie or a kidsshow. But they don’t feel like they belong in a SW movie and I am kind of dissapointed with some of the deigsn Ryan has picked. Sad but true. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/23ea5d4b9241b387b1fa68d4a75aed65b4e54456efff36e07c9506a391bdec07.jpg
Sad but a nitpicky opinion, actually. It’s completely ridiculous the lengths that Star Wars fans will go to to complain about Star Wars.
I am a 3D artist so it’s literally my job to analyze creatures and characters in movies and games. Why the hell do you have such a problem with discussing creature design? I think my arguments made sense and I presented my opinion in a respectful way. But maybe I’ll just tell my art director he shouldn’t go such “ridiculous lengths” to “complain” next time he gives me feedback on my work.
Please do. You’ll probably have a much better time designing creatures that look fun and cool instead of worrying about the eye size of galactic puffins.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/836cb63cb4e2a7fbbab88bd25094f2e9478b4bf6551b0830689a1d7a832ea58e.jpg
I did a quick photoshop how I would improve the porgs (at least in my oppinion), including a male and a female variant. The photoshops are by no means perfect but small changes would increase the realism a lot imo.
Of the Porgs be wary you must. Cute they are, but too are deceiving. Remember you will the foolish Jar-Jar? Cute he was supposed to be too.
Impossible to see the future is, except for the porgs
prepare for pixar new adventure: The Porgs!!
I’m thinking that Porg plushies will be a big sell this Christmas.
I really hope we see them in movement in the next trailer, I have a hard time imagining them moving!
I don’t know anything for certain, but I’m fairly confident we will probably see them in motion at some point before the movie comes out. I think I read somewhere that Porgs can fly.
They can 😀 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8efe41ec9d382004d74e9c759a7cce4a942e10a9d352a68f5143dfa73ee82620.jpg
I’m getting some pretty damned hairy Jar Jar flashbacks right about now…
Yeah, I hope the Porg is short-term and just there for a smile or a quick meal. Don’t want to see it as a Jar-Jar or other Disney sidekick (imagining it hiding and whimpering under a blanket when Kylo Ren enters the room).
That porg terrifies me. It’s the cold dark soulless eyes. Shudder.
Is it just me or do the Caretakers look an awful lot like the little frog guys we’ve seen in brief shots of Canto Bight? Maybe they’re the males of the species? Or do some Caretakers come along for the party? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e345bf1544adbb1b55f16cbf18afa10f27bcf07d67368574e877207cbeb923f.png
Ewok haters are gonna love those cute little fellas.
I myself have faith they’ll be used properly.
And I’ve always loved the Ewoks, so I can’t wait to see them, and all the other new life-forms… bring it on!