Rian Johnson Promises Fans That Porgs Have “Their Place” In The Last Jedi

Porgs might be some of the newest and cutest additions to the Star Wars sequel trilogy but fans have been worrying that Lucasfilm only added in the wide-eyed sea birds to become adorable merchandising tools for Disney.

However, speaking in an interview with Yahoo! Movies, Star Wars director Rian Johnson promises everyone that the porgs going to be more than birds of fan service in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. According to the director, the sea puffins actually serve a small role in the sequel trilogy installment.

"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."

Johnson knows that the Star Wars fanbase tends to be wary of cute things in the franchise (remember Jar Jar and the Ewoks?) however the director seems to strongly believe in the porg's place in the movie.

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."

Blitz videos of the porgs have shown them to be nothing but curious and cute and we're all hoping that the puffins are going to live up to the hype when The Last Jedi premieres on December 15, 2017.

Read: Carrie Fisher Kept Rian Johnson In The Right Direction For Star Wars: The Last Jedi