It’s tough not to be jealous, I’m sure, but they can’t help stealing the Star Wars spotlight! The alien creatures in the franchise have always been especially delightful elements of the movies, and it certainly helps on with merchandising. As you can imagine, since Star Wars has been around for over 40 years, there’s a science of sorts to creating a great alien. Check out what Star Wars creative supervisor, Neal Scanlan, has to say about them:
How interesting! The way the creatives behind the viral creatures in Star Wars make them believable is to imagine if you’d be put off by seeing them in the real world. If you’d jump five feet after seeing a Porg, then it’s too strange to be in Star Wars. But since they are derived from puffins, pugs and seals, then it wouldn’t be completely strange to think up them existing somewhere in the universe.
Neal Scanlan has been overseeing the creation of Star Wars aliens since The Force Awakens. In his recent interview with CNN, he explained how implementing this rule to what they think up helps make them more engaging to an audience. He continued with this point:
It’s true! Star Wars films often are filled with drama, but it’s the quick appearance of characters like these that bring down some of the tension and loosen the audience up. This effect on the audience is apparently purposeful too! I mean, if Porgs were meant to do anything other than make us smile, what is even the point?
These cute aliens in the Star Wars mythos are some of the most iconic aspects of the universe and why the franchise is so popular. They always seem to surprise though! For example, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently said that Baby Yoda’s fame ended up being “beyond my expectations by a wide margin.”