How Force Collector could’ve spoiled The Rise of Skywalker
The first draft of Force Collector contained a scene that inadvertently spoiled something from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Here’s what we think it might’ve been.
Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Kevin Shinick’s young adult novel Force Collector was part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Taking place a few years before The Force Awakens, the novel follows Karr Nuq Sin, a Force-sensitive teenager who sees visions of the past when he touches certain objects.
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Karr’s journey to better understand the Force and the truth of the mysterious Jedi takes him to familiar planets like Jakku, Utapau, and Takodana. Along the way he experiences visions featuring key events and characters from many eras of Star Wars.
When promoting the novel, author Kevin Shinick revealed that the Lucasfilm Story Group contacted him about a section that needed to come out of his first draft of the story. It reportedly included Karr traveling to a specific planet that they described as “a big section of Episode IX“ and J.J. Abrams’ script. Naturally, that section had to be removed from Force Collector.
Having now read Force Collector and having seen The Rise of Skywalker, it’s worth responsibly speculating on what the accidental spoiler might have been.
The most likely scenario is that Shinick wrote a section of the novel where Karr travels to Tatooine, particularly the Lars homestead. Based on the importance of Tatooine in visions he experienced related to Anakin and Luke Skywalker, at one point Karr actually plans on traveling to Tatooine, but he ends up choosing not to go there.
If this is the case, it was likely seen as too similar to the ending of The Rise of Skywalker where Rey travels to the Lars homestead on Tatooine. Perhaps Karr even looked at the Tatooine sunset as Rey does at the end of the movie, with Karr understanding what it meant to Luke based on his visions of the Jedi’s journey. There could’ve been even more parallels, with Karr burying an artifact significant to the Skywalker family, much like Rey burying the lightsabers of Luke and Leia.
The emotional intention behind the film’s final scene on Tatooine would’ve been less impactful if it had already been done with Karr in Force Collector. A return to Tatooine needed to be saved for the end of the Skywalker saga.
Karr’s decision to not go to Tatooine feels a bit abrupt and undeveloped when reading the book. It might be because such a decision was not authentic to the story, but was just a necessity dictated by the Story Group.
We may never know what the accidental spoiler was, but Karr traveling to Tatooine definitely seems like the safest bet.
dark. Next. Too many plots points are being revealed after TROS release
Do you think this is the inadvertent spoiler referred to by Kevin Shinick? If not, what do you believe the spoiler to be? Let us know in the comments!