Meet The Aliens That Live On Luke Skywalker's Island In The Last Jedi

Luke Skywalker's lonely island will turn out to be more populated than initially thought, The Last Jedi will reveal. 

According to a cover story in Entertainment Weekly, the rocky outpost on the planet Ahch-To, where audiences met Luke (Mark Hamill) in the closing moments of The Force Awakens, is home to not just him, but also to at least two other never-before-seen species as well. Most interestingly, they may not necessarily be on Luke's side.

The first, a diminutive winged species called the Porg, are big-eyed, hamster-esque, cuddly looking creatures that director Rian Johnson said were inspired by puffins that populated the real-life island of Skellig Michael, where the scenes were shot. "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 said. "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."

The second new addition to the galaxy is an amphibian, all-female "fish-bird type" species known as the Caretakers. They're stewards of the island dressed in nun-like robes who only begrudgingly allow Luke to live alongside them. "They're these big matronly creatures, but they have these little skinny little bird feet," Johnson said. "They've been there for thousands of years, and they essentially keep up the structures on the island." Unlike the Porgs, they speak to Luke, using what the director calls "a blubbery sort of Scottish fish talk" to communicate with their perhaps-unwelcome Jedi neighbor. 

Expanding the Star Wars galaxy is one of the most exciting opportunities for the new trilogy and beyond, so we're thoroughly on board with making the home of the last Jedi (whoever that might be) more vibrant and lived-in, even if those Porg give off some too-cute Ewok vibes.

See how they all get along when The Last Jedi premieres on Dec. 15, and brush up on your Star Wars trivia while you wait these last months out.