All the proof in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that Finn is Force sensitive

When Star Wars: The Force Awakens first premiered, the movie kept audiences questioning who the true Force wielder was between Rey and Finn up until the film’s final moments. Finn was the first of the two of them to use the blue Skywalker lightsaber in battle — first against Stormtroopers and then against Kylo Ren — but the saber ultimately belonged to Rey, as did the Jedi journey.

**SPOILER WARNING: This story contains detailed spoilers for Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.**

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, however, reintroduced the idea that Finn may well have a sensitivity to the Force. Throughout the film, John Boyega’s character knows things he shouldn’t really know, which can only be explained by his feeling things through the Force, just as we’ve seen Jedi do throughout the series.

Director J.J. Abrams reportedly confirmed after a fan Q&A at a weekend screening that the thing Finn had been trying to tell Rey throughout the film wasn’t that he loved her, as many fans assumed. Instead, he was trying to tell his Jedi pal that he thought he was Force-sensitive. Boyega then tweeted about the topic on Monday, confirming that Finn hadn’t been trying to make a romantic confession, though he left out what Finn was trying to say.

All of this uncertainty has prompted us to do the only logical thing here: Gather up all the information from The Rise of Skywalker that proves Finn is Force-sensitive.

First, we let's look at the instance to which Abrams and Boyega were referring: The moment in which Finn tells Rey that there was something he “never got to tell” her, a confession he makes as they're being swallowed by the sinking field and then spat out in an underground cave. Once they all realize they’re not dead, Rey asks Finn what it was he meant to say. He promises to tell her later — and then Poe jumps in to rib Finn.

The moment is pretty much forgotten. Though most fans likely assumed Finn wanted to tell Rey that he had feelings for her (a reasonable way of looking at it, considering his obvious crush on her in The Force Awakens), Abrams set the record straight.

This isn’t the only moment of Finn using the Force in Rise of Skywalker, though. Not by a longshot. It doesn't take long for him to put his Midi-chlorian-boosted talents on display. While the gang is still trapped in that cave, Rey approaches a threatening Vexis snake and notices that it has a vicious wound. As she gets closer, Poe resolves to shoot the thing, but Finn stops him from pulling the trigger because he can clearly sense something else is going on. Now, that could be chalked up to Finn trusting Rey’s initial order to stand down, but given all the other evidence here, it’s fair to assume he knew something was up.

Not much later, once they’ve escaped the caves and are approaching Ochi’s ship, Rey feels Kylo Ren’s approach through the Force and wanders off to face him. Finn gives her an odd look, and I like to think he’s sensing something via the Force, though he likely doesn’t understand at first what it is.

No, that understanding comes later, when he sees Rey standing in the middle of the desert. He knows she’s waiting for Kylo Ren. Granted, that’s not the most out-there statement considering that most of the odd things Rey does are part of her mission to find Kylo, but still — proof!

Photo: Disney/Lucasfilm

Then there’s the big reveal that Jannah and the rest of her crew on Kef Bir are all ex-Stormtroopers. As she and Finn chat, they discuss how they all shared the same “feeling” that they needed to leave, that they needed to get out. Finn tells Jannah that he knows the Force brought him and Rey together and, maybe, it brought him, Jannah, and the other ex-Stormtroopers together, too. It’s implied that all of them are Force-sensitive. (I sense a new Jedi club in the making.)

Also while on Kef Bir, Finn and Jannah manage to work together to get another skimmer across the water just like Rey did, implying that they’re both strong enough in the Force to do such a thing. (That or very good sailors, but neither of them seems to have any boating experience.)

Fast forward to the final run against the Final Order. Finn senses where the new fleet-directing signal is coming from after it moves from the tower to the command ship. He leads the new charge against the command ship to put an end to the Final Order.

Most significantly, though, in this series of significant Force-sensing moments from Finn, is the moment in which he feels Rey die. Much like Leia felt Han’s death through the Force as well as Luke’s and could always sense where her brother was, Finn’s connection to Rey is undoubtedly Force-related.

For the longest time, we assumed Leia had never done any further Jedi training and that she just lived with a deep connection to the Force. We learn in The Rise of Skywalker, however, that she did end up training alongside Luke to be a Jedi but gave it up in the end. All of this tells me that Finn’s journey isn’t finished with The Rise of Skywalker. Much like Leia’s training continued on after what we saw of her in the original trilogy, I think it’s safe to assume Finn’s powers are only just now settling in. We might not ever get to see it, but, hey, at least we can hope.