Star Wars Ewoks without fur are terrifying

Ewoks. The fierce-yet-cuddly Endorians have been a polarizing gaggle of mini-Wookies ever since they were introduced in 1983's Return of the Jedi. Are they cute and loveable? Or did they ruin the climax of the original Star Wars trilogy? Can both be true?

There is, however, just one thing about the creatures that all Star Wars fans can probably agree on. An Ewok without fur is terrifying.

Below, Star Wars creature concept designer Jake Lunt Davies shared this image on Instagram of actor Warwick Davis' original Wicket costume before fur was added:

"Ewok sans fur," he wrote. "Scary stuff. Fabricating Warwick's costume in the Creature shop. From BTS extras on [The Rise of Skywalker] Blu-ray.

That is one bad news bear. It's like something that's waiting in your bedroom closet in the middle of the night rather than an oversized teddy bear cheerfully Yub-Nubbing among the treetops.

And just to make your click worth it, here are some Ewok facts:

—Nobody ever uses the word "Ewok" in Return of the Jedi. The name was only in the credits and on merchandising.

—The Endorians were originally supposed to be Wookies. Creator George Lucas has explained via a DVD commentary that the reason they were changed to Ewoks was that it wouldn't make sense for the moon's creatures to have a stone-age culture when Chewbacca is so technologically adept at flying spaceships and the like.

—The name "Ewok" is an anagram for "Wookie." Sort of. Not really. But you see what we mean.

—Their design was based on Lucas' dog, which was a Griffon Bruxellois (the name sounds like something J.K. Rowling made up and we didn't initially think it was a real dog either). They indeed look Ewok-esque.

—There were two whole movies about Ewoks. Okay, TV movies. And bad ones. But still! There was Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) and Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984). Both are Return of the Jedi prequels and—aside from Davis—do not involve the rest of the Star Wars cast.

—An animated Ewoks TV series also ran from 1985–86 on ABC, which you can check out below.

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