Via Empireonline.com:

The new issue of Empire comes hurtling towards a galay not so far away from yours this week, and among the many exclusives packed within, there comes word direct from Lucasfilm on what we can expect of the fast-approaching Star Wars: The Last Jedi, astonishingly only six weeks away. The latest issue carries an interview with Neal Scanlan, Oscar-winning effects genius who currently heads up the Creature Workshop for Star Wars, giving us some intriguing hints on how his work shapes the course of the Skywalker saga.

One of the tidbits Scanlan revealed to us was that Porgs – the puffin-like birds glimpsed in the trailer (which have already caused a merchandising sensation) – were at least partially related to the Caretakers, the more sentient nun-like creatures who live on the island of Ahch-To with Luke Skywalker. “With Ahch-To, it felt like the only creatures that would ever exist on this island were those indigenous to it, where very few other species and DNA would have reached them,” Scanlan explained. “So they’re an extrapolation from the porgs and have bird-like feet, but they’re a further developed race.”

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