'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker': 'Droid hacker' character Babu Frik revealed

We got a glimpse of one of the diminutive new characters in the Star Wars universe in action figure form during last week's preview of galactic merch-fest Force Friday.

But now filmmakers are giving us a better look at Babu Frik, the 'droid hacker' from the final chapter in the current trilogy.

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According to the official Star Wars website, Frik is a 'Anzellan droidsmith' who 'works among the Spice Runners of Kijimi and can reprogram or modify virtually any droid — regardless of the security measures protecting its systems'.

We have a feeling that despite not having much of a clue who the 'Spice Runners of Kijimi' are, and depite being tiny, this chap might play a pivotal role in things.

He's not the only new character who could have a great bearing on the plot of J.J. Abrams' Rise of Skywalker.

During the Triple Force Friday event, Finn – aka John Boyega – got a bit coy when he opened up a Lego Millennium Falcon to find a figurine of a character called Boolio inside.

Picking him up, Boyega simply said 'Oh, him', before falling silent.

“Yeah, can’t talk about Boolio,” he added.

Let's just say it made us want to invite Boyega to our next poker night.

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It's not just new alien creatures arriving for the ninth movie in the Star Wars series.

Newcomers to the franchise Naomie Ackie and Keri Russell will play the characters of Jannah and Zorri, though so far the filmmakers are remaining pretty tight-lipped on who they are.

Jannah comes 'from an oceanic moon' and 'leads a band of warriors, ready to charge against the forces of the First Order', according to merchandising marketing details, while according to Russell, Zorri is 'very cool and a little bit shady. She's kind of a criminal and sort of this old friend of Poe's'.

We'll have to wait until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in the UK on December 19.