Even though Star Wars: The Last Jedi had a lot of dark moments, there were also moments of lightheartedness sprinkled throughout the movie to help with tonal balance. Part of this came from the adorable Porgs, who were the talk of the proverbial town in the months leading up to The Last Jedi's release. One of the native species of Ahch-To, the Porgs shared a lot of screen time with Chewbacca, but the Wookie warrior and these puffin-like creatures didn't get off to a great start, as Chewie decided to roast a Porg one night for dinner. For Joonas Suotamo, who currently portrays Chewbacca in the Star Wars movie, shooting this scene was especially difficult, because at the time, he didn't know what the Porgs looked like. Suotamo explained:
Yeah... I knew we were going to do the Porg roasting and there were going to be some awkward moments in that shot. But I wasn't shown any footage of what the Porgs would actually look like, so it was very hard to get into the mindset. After I saw it in the finished film, I realized exactly what Chewie was going through, and I thought Rian [Johnson] did an amazing job directing me in that scene, because it was so difficult.
It's one thing to be told ahead of time that a bunch of Porgs are going to be staring pitifully at Chewbacca right before he starts to chow down on one of their roasted brethren, and it's another thing to actually see how these creatures look fully realized. Fortunately, Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson did a good job with helping Joonas Suotamo on this scene, and the actor added during his conversation with StarWars.com that he was happy with how it turned out. Chewbacca, on the other hand, probably could have done without those Porgs guilting him into not eating the porg he'd already cooked. After all, it's not like there was a 7-Eleven he could go to on Ahch-To to procure a quick snack.
While there were some Porgs hanging around as Luke Skywalker trained Rey in the ways of the Force, they mostly spent time with Chewbacca during Star Wars: The Last Jedi, to the point that several of them, including one deliberately colored to resemble the Wookie, set up shop in the Millennium Falcon. Rian Johnson noted the reason Chewbacca and the Porgs shared so much screen time was to show that there could be camaraderie and friendship between species. That being said, it remains to be seen if any Porgs will still be waddling around the Millennium Falcon when Episode IX kicks off.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now available on Digital HD, and the Blu-ray and DVD copies hit shelves next Tuesday, March 27. Solo: A Star Wars Story, which shows the early days of Chewbacca's friendship with Han Solo, is following on May 25, and the current Star Wars trilogy will conclude when Episode IX is released on December 20, 2019.
