The Last Jedi’s new creatures are alien nuns played by real people

In July, Lucasfilm pulled back the curtain a bit on the porgs, new creatures that will appear in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. They populate the island of Ahch-To, where Luke Skywalker lives in a self-made exile. Lucasfilm has now revealed that the porgs aren’t the only inhabitants of the mysterious and ancient island.

[Warning: The following may contain spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.]

Entertainment Weekly reports that these new aliens, called “Caretakers,” are cryptic, nun-like and have lived on the island for thousands of years.

Unlike the diminutive porgs, which resemble a cross between a penguin and a pug, the Caretakers are sentient and intelligent. They are all female and amphibious, with large wrinkled bodies and thin bird-like legs. They speak exclusively in their native tongue, which director Rian Johnson says is “a blubbery sort of Scottish fish talk.”

Johnson also confirmed that the Caretakers are performed entirely by actors wearing practical suits. This gives them the vibe of original trilogy characters like Ephant Mon or Max Rebo, or even something out of an ’80s Jim Henson movie.

Disney/Lucasfilm

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we learned that Luke believed Ahch-To to be the site of the first Jedi temple. Johnson didn’t explicitly say whether the Caretakers are Jedi, but they are evidently not big fans of Luke, whose presence on the island they merely “tolerate.” The Star Wars universe is also full of various religious interpretations of the Force that go beyond the Jedi and the Sith.

We’ll learn more about the Caretakers and their enigmatic island when Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on Dec. 15.