Nope Ending Explained: Is OJ Really Dead? Is UFO or UAP A Living Thing? Here Everything Explained
Nope currently running at the cinema around the world! Acclaimed writer and director Jordan Peele’s highly anticipated latest film, Nope, has finally been unveiled to the world and has proven to be one of his most intriguing films to date. Much like Get Out and Us before it, it’s a movie that plays with the genre in a whole host of ways that make a lot of sense. What sets it apart is the way it is built around the history of cinema itself and its interest in it. It shows that Peele is both hyper-aware of the industry’s story and skeptical of its impact.
It creates a self-reflective quality that, while it’s an enjoyable summer blockbuster, also brings a lot of depth to its narrative. On the surface, it’s a group of people caught up in a horror-tinged sci-fi story. On closer inspection, we realize that this is a film that itself deals with the process of creating for an audience and the impact of the search for the show on those involved. Here is the explanation of the end of Nope!
Nope: The Story
Nope, a mysterious title, which confuses us more if we associate it with the equally mysterious images shown in the trailers. Curiosity and the desire to discover something more have accompanied us all this time. Now is the time to peek into what lies behind the Jordan Peele curtain. We are in America and more precisely in a remote ranch in the parched gorges of California; a place where strange phenomena have been occurring lately. After the death of their father, mysteriously killed by a shower of metallic bodies falling from the sky, Otis James Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) become the actual owners of the family ranch.
The Haywoods have been training horses for generations. Some specimens are so magnificent that they are even used in films or commercials. The apparent stillness of the place is however disturbed by strange phenomena that are becoming more and more frequent, starting precisely from the strange circumstances in which the father died. Thanks to the installation of cameras, a cloud is noticed that seems to have been motionless for months. Plus, Otis has the feeling that he has seen a mysterious flying saucer move fast in the skies. Could it be UFO sightings? Is there any connection to the rain of objects that killed your father?
Nope Ending Explained: Is OJ Really Dead? Is UFO or UAP A Living Thing?
Nope UFO or UAP is a living, flying extraterrestrial being, rather than an actual spacecraft. In Nope, the “Craft” just seems to want to feed, but it takes a particular interest in OJ, Emerald, and the Haywood Ranch, as if it had found prey more worth hunting, leading to the events of the end of Nope. The “Craft” from the sci-fi horror film Nope feeds on living creatures, but inanimate objects prove to be bad for his digestion. Items that cannot be digested seem to anger the “Craft”, who becomes angry when a horse statue he is trying to eat gets stuck in his mouth.
The blood it spills could be seen as a way for the “Craft” to show off its power while terrorizing its prey by showing them they don’t stand a chance against it. All it takes is eye contact or being observed for the “Craft” to attack, and that’s why it sucked in Jupe and her audience. She spared OJ several times, as he applied the same technique as with his horses, namely to lower his eyes and look away, to show that he is not a threat.
When Jupe discovers the “Craft”, he thinks he can control it and turn it into a new show for his show, buying horses from OJ and “sacrificing” them to the “Craft” to make it appear, essentially training it. Which becomes a central theme in Nope, whether it’s Gordy, the horses, the Craft, or humanity itself.
The initial plan of the protagonists at the end of Nope once discovered the desire to feed on the “Craft”, is simply to obtain a high-resolution video of it to sell to the channels and earn some money. The goal is to lure him in to get the pictures, which would make them rich and alert the world to what he is, thus eliciting what would become a massive response to his presence and could frighten him.
When OJ appears to be sacrificing himself to help Emerald escape, she releases a gas-filled balloon which the “Craft” attempts to eat, but which explodes instead. Meanwhile, Emerald takes pictures, still hoping to capture the snap that will make money. At the end of Nope, once the “Craft” is defeated and the dust begins to clear, Emerald sees OJ on his horse, Lucky, showing that he survived his attempt to lure the “Craft”. However, Emerald may be the victim of a hallucination, just as OJ had been before, reminiscing about times with his father who was seen as if he was present.
Ultimately, it’s up to the viewer to decide if they believe what they see (OJ alive and on his horse) or if it’s a vision. Either way, it’s the last scene of Nope’s ending before the end credits roll, and no further explanation is given, meaning it can easily be left ambiguous. Nope highlights the hubris of using living beings to fuel our entertainment, be they humans, animals, or extra-terrestrials, and asks whether the risk and sacrifice are worth it, especially at the end of the film. In the movie, the ultimate price is death, and it’s a price many pay to be entertained by something they can’t control instead of wondering if it’s the right choice.
