Hey, Star Wars fans: meet the Porgs, The Last Jedi's answer to Ewoks

There are two kinds of Star Wars fans. Well, okay, there are probably dozens of varieties of Star Wars fans, but one thing that can easily divide the franchise's audience into two camps is the Ewok question. Some love the furry little forest-dwelling teddy bears introduced in Return of the Jedi, and some... don't love them.

Well, move over, Wicket and company! There's a new creature in the galaxy. Today, the official Star Wars website posted a blog item with the provocative title "Introducing Porgs, the Cute New Creatures From Star Wars: The Last Jedi". That's right: cute. They were designed to be adorable. If you have a problem with that, you're probably an Ewok-hater. You sad, sad person.

Lucasfilm Story Group’s Pablo Hidalgo provides all the information you will probably ever need (or want) about these, um, birds?:

"Porgs are native to Ahch-To, and can be found dwelling along the cliffs of the island where Luke and Rey are. In many ways, they’re the Star Wars version of puffins. They build nests. They can fly. Their babies are called porglets."

Puffins! Who doesn't love puffins? Presumably the same miscreants who don't love Ewoks.

In other Star Wars news: At the D23 Expo in Anaheim last weekend, Disney gave fans a peek behind the scenes of The Last Jedi via the following video (which the rest of the world also got because it's on the official Star Wars YouTube channel). You can see the Porgs in there too, incidentally.

Perhaps to allay fears that The Last Jedi will tread on overly familiar ground—one of the main criticisms of J.J. Abrams's The Force Awakens was that Abrams and co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt essentially delivered a rewrite of Episode IV—the video features writer-director Rian Johnson and key cast members touting the new film's unique qualities. Daisy Ridley (Rey) calls Johnson's story "unexpected but right", while Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) says "Even though I think I know it all, they throw things at me storywise I never could have imagined." John Boyega (Finn) notes that "Everything is being shifted in the opposite way to what the audience expected after [Episode] VII. Rian's made Star Wars fresh and new." Johnson himself says "I'm hoping it'll be a little shocking."

Well, then! That's not too much to live up to, is it?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits cinemas December 15.