Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker star Daisy Ridley visited The Tonight Show to promote the new film and answer some pressing questions for Jimmy Fallon.
When Fallon asked the actor who was cuter, porgs, the puffin-like creatures native to the planet of Ahch-To that co-starred with Ridley in The Last Jedi, or Baby Yoda, the indisputable star of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, Ridley didn't hesitate. "Baby Yoda," she said immediately, almost cutting off Fallon. "I'm not a big fan of the porgs."
The audience cheered, but Fallon asked for clarification, which Ridley was glad to offer. "We worked for six months on The Last Jedi, and in every interview, 'What about the porgs?' I was like, the porgs were there for a day! I was there every day for six months!"
This is not the first time Ridley has expressed her preference for Yoda over every other Star Wars character. In December 2017, she completed a Buzzfeed test to find out which character of Star Wars she truly was. One of the questions asked the actors to pick an Original Trilogy character to be her partner in crime. The options were Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lando Calrissian, Han Solo, R2-D2 and Darth Vader. "Yoda," said Ridley right away. "Because he's tiny, and he can get in places, you know, if we're going to like, rob something."
Both porgs and Baby Yoda were animatronic puppets developed for Star Wars, just like Old Yoda was in 1979's The Empire Strikes Back. The international poster for The Rise of Skywalker included a small porg at the bottom left corner, so they will probably reappear in Episode IX. Fans of Baby Yoda can tune into The Mandalorian on Disney +.
Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant. The film arrives Dec. 20.