Star Wars 8 Last Jedi: This is the surprising REAL reason the Porgs are on Ahch-To

But the real reason they were even introduced to the franchise in the first place is a surprise.

It’s been revealed that Skellig Michael, the location for the scenes, was populated by many puffins – impossible (and unethical) to remove during filming.

It was ultimately decided that, rather than going to the effort of removing them in post-production, Rian Johnson would make lemons out of lemonade and just digitally alter them into what we now know as Porgs.

Speaking to the official Star Wars site, Jake Lunt Davies – creature designer – recalled: “From what I gathered, Rian had gone to shoot this sequence on Skellig Michael, which is the real island location that stands in for Ahch-To, and that island is covered in puffins.

“It’s a wildlife preserve and everywhere you look there are hundreds of birds dotted around the landscape.

“From what I gathered, Rian, in a positive spin on this, was looking at how can he work with this. You can’t remove them. You physically can’t get rid of them. 

“And digitally removing them is an issue and a lot of work, so let’s just roll with it, play with it. 

“And so I think he thought, ‘Well, that’s great, let’s have our own indigenous species.’”

And sure enough the Porgs have gone on to become the merchandising department’s dream – and they were also praised for not being as annoying or overly cute as many feared.

Other species introduced to the Last Jedi included the crystal foxes, the Fathiers, and a giant alien creature who was milked by Luke.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out now.