The Lanais were a sentient species of avian beings. For millennia, they inhabited Temple Island located on the ocean planet known as Ahch-To. The female members of this species fulfilled the role of Caretakers, tending to the ancient structures situated on the sacred island. This island was the location of the first Jedi Temple. Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Master, sought refuge there as a recluse after his Jedi students met their demise at the hands of his nephew, Kylo Ren. The male Lanais were known as the Visitors.
Ahch-To, an aquatic planet, served as the homeworld of the Lanais, a sentient species of avian creatures. They resided on Temple Island, the site of the first Jedi Temple. They shared a common ancestor with the seabirds that evolved into the porgs. The Lanais were characterized by their gray skin and slender, bird-like feet. Their skin, hair, and feathers possessed a natural water-shedding capability due to natural oils, enabling them to endure the harsh conditions of their oceanic planet. They had salt glands to extract sea salt from their food and membranes that shielded their eyes, granting them exceptional underwater vision.
The Lanais communicated using their own non-Basic language, Lanai's language, which combined spoken words with hand gestures. They were able to interact with Jedi Master Luke Skywalker during his self-imposed exile on Ahch-To. Written communication, involving cuneiform symbols inspired by the shape of their feet, was uncommon; instead, they favored using fire signals for long-distance communication.
Music was an integral part of their culture, helping them maintain rhythm during their repetitive tasks. Lanai-song consisted of whistles and guttural sounds that resonated throughout their village and workplaces. The Lanais' technology was entirely derived from fish, utilizing useful skins and skeletons gathered from their abundant oceans.
The Lanais had inhabited Temple Island on Ahch-To for thousands of years, with the female Caretakers maintaining the ancient structures at the location of the first Jedi temple. After the destruction of his Jedi students by his former padawan and nephew Kylo Ren, the renowned Jedi Master Luke Skywalker sought solitude on Ahch-To, the homeworld of the Lanais. The Lanais accepted and tolerated the Jedi Master's presence on the island. However, when Rey arrived to receive training from him, the Caretakers felt that she disrupted their work. On one occasion, Rey, out of frustration, used the Force to lift two Lanais before setting them back down.
The Lanais were conceived and developed for the 2017 Star Wars film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. The Caretakers were initially revealed in an article by Entertainment Weekly on August 9, 2017.
Rian Johnson, the writer and director of The Last Jedi, envisioned the Lanais as resembling a real-world nunnery. Neal Scanlan's team designed them. Concept artist Jake Lunt Davies created numerous physiological designs, which were then combined to create the final appearance. Michael Kaplan designed their practical costumes to reflect "a nun-like, spartan sort of existence." Martin Rezard served as the lead sculptor.
Johnson also characterized their language as "a blubbery sort of Scottish fish talk." Creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan also expressed the belief that "the only creatures that would ever exist on the Ahch-To island were those indigenous to it, where very few other species and DNA would have reached them." This led Scanlan to envision the Lanais as an evolved form of the porgs—a sea bird species native to Ahch-To—possessing bird-like feet, despite being a more advanced species.
During the film's production, the Lanais were brought to life with a person inside the costume, including a friend of Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in the film.
During the development of Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, the Lanais were at one point considered to appear as a group of assassins on Kijimi.