diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-galaxy-init-extra-vars.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-galaxy-init-extra-vars.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..da013a7ef25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-galaxy-init-extra-vars.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+minor_changes:
+- >-
+  ``ansible-galaxy role|collection init`` - accept ``--extra-vars`` to
+  supplement/override the variables ``ansible-galaxy`` injects for templating
+  ``.j2`` files in the skeleton.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py b/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
index 7803bdd9a3f..805bd650372 100755
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/galaxy.py
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ from ansible.template import Templar
 from ansible.utils.collection_loader import AnsibleCollectionConfig
 from ansible.utils.display import Display
 from ansible.utils.plugin_docs import get_versioned_doclink
+from ansible.utils.vars import load_extra_vars
 
 display = Display()
 urlparse = six.moves.urllib.parse.urlparse
@@ -366,6 +367,7 @@ class GalaxyCLI(CLI):
             init_parser.add_argument('--type', dest='role_type', action='store', default='default',
                                      help="Initialize using an alternate role type. Valid types include: 'container', "
                                           "'apb' and 'network'.")
+        opt_help.add_runtask_options(init_parser)
 
     def add_remove_options(self, parser, parents=None):
         remove_parser = parser.add_parser('remove', parents=parents, help='Delete roles from roles_path.')
@@ -1171,6 +1173,7 @@ class GalaxyCLI(CLI):
             )
 
         loader = DataLoader()
+        inject_data.update(load_extra_vars(loader))
         templar = Templar(loader, variables=inject_data)
 
         # create role directory
@@ -1214,7 +1217,11 @@ class GalaxyCLI(CLI):
                     src_template = os.path.join(root, f)
                     dest_file = os.path.join(obj_path, rel_root, filename)
                     template_data = to_text(loader._get_file_contents(src_template)[0], errors='surrogate_or_strict')
-                    b_rendered = to_bytes(templar.template(template_data), errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+                    try:
+                        b_rendered = to_bytes(templar.template(template_data), errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+                    except AnsibleError as e:
+                        shutil.rmtree(b_obj_path)
+                        raise AnsibleError(f"Failed to create {galaxy_type.title()} {obj_name}. Templating {src_template} failed with the error: {e}") from e
                     with open(dest_file, 'wb') as df:
                         df.write(b_rendered)
                 else:
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy-collection/tasks/init.yml b/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy-collection/tasks/init.yml
index 46198fef390..6a00553efcb 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy-collection/tasks/init.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/ansible-galaxy-collection/tasks/init.yml
@@ -128,11 +128,18 @@
         - link: custom_skeleton/galaxy.yml
           source: galaxy.yml
 
+    - name: create j2 file
+      copy:
+        dest: "{{ galaxy_dir }}/scratch/skeleton/custom_skeleton/README.j2"
+        content: !unsafe |
+          Requires ansible-core >={{ min_ansible_version }}
+
     - name: initialize a collection using the skeleton
-      command: ansible-galaxy collection init ansible_test.my_collection {{ init_path }} {{ skeleton }}
+      command: ansible-galaxy collection init ansible_test.my_collection {{ init_path }} {{ skeleton }} {{ extra }}
       vars:
         init_path: '--init-path {{ galaxy_dir }}/scratch/skeleton'
         skeleton: '--collection-skeleton {{ galaxy_dir }}/scratch/skeleton/custom_skeleton'
+        extra: '-e min_ansible_version="2.17"'
 
     - name: stat expected collection contents
       stat:
@@ -143,6 +150,7 @@
         - plugins/inventory
         - galaxy.yml
         - plugins/inventory/foo.py
+        - README
 
     - assert:
         that:
@@ -150,7 +158,18 @@
           - stat_result.results[1].stat.islnk
           - stat_result.results[2].stat.islnk
           - stat_result.results[3].stat.isreg
+          - stat_result.results[4].stat.isreg
+
+    - name: Verify the README was templated successfully
+      copy:
+        dest: "{{ galaxy_dir }}/scratch/skeleton/ansible_test/my_collection/README"
+        content: |
+          Requires ansible-core >=2.17
+      register: validate_readme_content
 
+    - assert:
+        that:
+          - not validate_readme_content.changed
   always:
     - name: cleanup
       file: