The Ewoks—yes, those tiny little creatures on the Forest Moon of Endor—helped the Rebels take down the mighty Empire. Despite playing a key role in the victory during Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks quickly became one of the most divisive parts of the Star Wars universe. While some fans found them charming, others saw them as a symbol of everything wrong with the franchise’s shift toward younger audiences and merchandise-driven storytelling.
So is that the reason why we don’t see any Ewoks in the newer Star Wars movies or shows? What really happened to them?
What Happened to the Ewoks, and Why Do So Many Fans Hate Them?
Let’s start with the real question—what actually happened to the Ewoks? The first thing we have to acknowledge is that not every Star Wars fan liked them. In fact, some fans straight-up hated the idea of Ewoks from the moment Return of the Jedi hit theaters.
To many, they felt like a blatant attempt to appeal to younger audiences and sell toys—cute, furry creatures dropped into the middle of a galactic war. That tone shift didn’t sit well with fans who expected something darker and more epic for the final chapter of the original trilogy.
One of the biggest reasons fans criticized the Ewoks is simple: they just didn’t buy it. The idea that a group of stone-age teddy bears with slingshots and logs could take down the Empire’s elite troops and armored walkers felt ridiculous to many. These were stormtroopers—soldiers of a galactic empire backed by massive resources and advanced weaponry—getting outsmarted by creatures who live in treehouses.
To some viewers, this wasn’t just silly—it undermined the entire tone of the final battle. Instead of an epic clash between the forces of good and evil, it became a cartoonish skirmish filled with slapstick traps and rock throwing. It felt like the stakes had been lowered in a story that, until then, had been grounded in real sacrifice, loss, and political weight.
This contrast was jarring, especially after the much darker Empire Strikes Back. Fans expecting a grand, gritty finale to the trilogy were thrown off by the tonal shift—and the Ewoks became the face of that shift.
Even some of the biggest names in the film industry have voiced their disappointment. Denis Villeneuve, director of Dune, once said he “lost interest in Star Wars” because of the Ewoks, claiming they turned the story into “a comedy for kids” and robbed the saga of its edge.
In The Town podcast, Villeneuve recalled, “The problem is that it all derailed in 1983 with Return of the Jedi. I was 15 years old; my best friend and I wanted to take a cab, go to LA, and talk to George Lucas. We were so angry. Still today, the Ewoks… it turned out to be a comedy for kids.”
Even Mark Hamill admitted he was surprised—and a bit skeptical—when he learned the final battle would be won with the help of a tribe of teddy bear-like aliens rather than elite Rebel soldiers. During the “Mark Hamill Live” panel at Fan Expo Chicago, he described how Return of the Jedi didn’t quite meet his expectations after the darker tone of The Empire Strikes Back:
“I read the third one. I, sort of, was thinking that the plot would be—because Luke lost a hand, he has a black glove, he’s now dressed in black, and, as we all know, villains dress in black. It’s a rule. So I thought the third one would [show] Luke struggling to decide between the light and the dark, and I was reading it and thinking… ‘Ewoks?!’”
Why They Don’t Appear in the New Star Wars Movie?
By the time Disney took over Star Wars and began releasing the sequel trilogy, it was clear they were being cautious about which legacy elements to bring back—and which to quietly retire. And the Ewoks? They fell into that second category.
The fan backlash from Return of the Jedi never fully went away. While the Ewoks remained part of the canon, their divisive legacy made them risky to revisit in a major way. Disney and Lucasfilm were focused on winning back older fans who felt burned by the prequels—and for many of those fans, Ewoks symbolized everything they didn’t want: a shift toward younger audiences, forced cuteness, and toy-first storytelling.
This is why we barely see them at all in the new movies. In The Rise of Skywalker, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of Wicket and his son watching the celebration on Endor. It’s a tiny nod, more of an Easter egg than a return—and that’s likely by design. Disney knew the nostalgia was there, but so was the risk of reigniting old debates.
Instead, the sequel trilogy leaned into darker tones, new alien designs, and characters like the Porgs—who, while also created for toy appeal, were used in a far more limited and less lore-breaking way. The Ewoks, on the other hand, had helped take down the Empire. That’s not the kind of thing you can quietly explain away without raising eyebrows.
In short, the Ewoks didn’t vanish because they died off or became irrelevant in-universe. They disappeared from the spotlight because the fandom—and the franchise—moved in a different direction.