‘Nope’ Ending, Explained: Jordan Peele’s Horror Movie Lets Audiences See the Monster

Jordan Peele is once again making audiences scream in terror while thinking deeply about America in his latest horror movie, Nope, which is now available to rent on digital platforms like Amazon Prime, Vudu, and more.

Peele, who wrote and directed the film, reunites with Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya, who stars alongside Keke Palmer as two siblings who inherit their father’s ranch after he is killed by an object falling from the sky. Brother and sister attempt to catch evidence on film of UFOs in the area, and in the process get mixed up in some pretty messed up situations. Yeah, nope!

This is Peele’s third horror movie, but this time around, the social-political commentary that was prominently featured in Get Out and Us isn’t quite as easy to pick up. But, if you look closely, it is there. Now that Nope is available on digital, it’s even easier to overanalyze the movie.

Read on for Decider’s breakdown of the Nope movie summary and the Nope ending, explained.

What is the Nope plot summary?

The movie opens in 1998, on the set of a fictional sitcom called Gordy’s Home, which centered on a family and their adopted pet chimp. We hear audio from the sitcom, complete with studio audience laughter. Then, the sound of a balloon popping. On-screen, like something out a nightmare, we see Gordy the chimp covered in blood and a dead body on the stage. Cowering in the corner is a child actor on the show, Ricky “Jupe” Park (played by Jacob Kim). You’ll want to remember this for later.

In the present-day, Otis Jr. “OJ” Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) is helping his father tend the family horse ranch in California when tragedy strikes. OJ’s father is killed when he is struck by a coin falling out of the sky. (OJ is told the coin came from an airplane.) OJ inherits the ranch, and takes over the family business of raising, training, and supervising horses for Hollywood film and TV productions.

OJ’s sister, Em Haywood (Keke Palmer) helps out by being the one who deals with people—OJ much prefers working with animals—but she doesn’t take the job nearly as seriously as her brother. She’s more interested in pursuing fame and success in Hollywood for herself. So when she tells film crews the story of Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion—a real-life photo series that features an unnamed Black jockey that the Haywoods claim to be related to—she really hams it up.

OJ is fired from a job on a commercial with a named cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) when the crew refuses to heed his advice not to look the horse in the eye. Facing financial trouble, OJ is forced to sell a horse to a nearby Western-themed amusement park. The park, Jupiter’s Claim, is run by Jupe (Steven Yeun), aka that little kid from Gordy’s Home in the opening of the movie. Now an adult, Jupe exploits his traumatic past for profit and offers to buy the Haywoods’ ranch.

But OJ’s problems get a lot bigger when he sees a UFO shaped like a flying saucer in the night sky, on the same night as a power outage. He theorizes the UFO is related to the freak accident that killed his father. With convincing from his sister Em, the siblings decide to capture footage of the UFO and sell it to make money to save the ranch. They install a high-tech camera system on the ranch with the help of an electronics store employee named Angel (Brandon Perea). They bait the UFO with a fake plastic horse, and it does come back—but the power goes out once again. That, combined with an ill-timed praying mantis, prevents them from getting the footage they need. They attempt to recruit the cinematographer from the commercial to help, but he doesn’t believe them.

Meanwhile, it’s revealed that Jupe knows about the UFO too, and then he’s been using horses to attract it every week. He believes he can lure it back again to put on a show for audiences. And he’s right—but rather than taking the horse, the UFO sucks up Jupe and the entire audience instead.

OJ sees the aftermath of the deserted theme park and sees the UFO again, and realizes it’s not a spaceship, but an alien monster—a gigantic animal. He races to warn his sister, but it’s too late. Em and Angel are caught in the house when the monster hovers overhead, shutting off the electricity, and dumping out blood and other objects left over from its meal. OJ eventually joins them back at the house, and they all manage to escape alive, in part because OJ recalls his own advice when working with Hollywood horses—don’t look the animal in the eye.

What is the Nope ending explained?

Despite their reluctance, OJ convinces Angel and Em to try one more time to catch the monster on screen. Now that OJ realizes the monster—who he calls Jean Jacket, after his sister’s old horse—is a territorial predator, he believes he knows how to deal with it.

After seeing the news of the people disappearing at the theme park, Antlers the cinematographer believes the story now and agrees to help capture the monster on film. They come up with a plan for OJ to draw the monster out on horseback. Angel rigs up the electricity-powered inflatable men, aka “sky dancers,” to car batteries all over the ranch property, which allows them to have a warning when the monster is coming as well as track its movements. It’s simple: If a sky dancer wilts, the monster is nearby.

Antlers had a camera that runs on a crank, rather than electricity, so the monster won’t interfere with the footage. It all comes together… and then a TMZ reporter on a motorcycle shows up. The reporter crashes when the power dies, and OJ goes to check on him, putting himself in danger. The monster eats the reporter, but OJ, who knows how to handle animals, is spared. OJ lures the monster right into the line of Antlers’ camera, and successfully does a “run” on camera, just like his ancestor once did on Animal Locomotion.

The footage is incredible. OJ, using colorful flags that the monster doesn’t like to deter it, is safe. It’s a triumphant moment that should be a happily ever after… but then Antlers goes and messes everything up. In a nod to how obsessed cinematographers are with chasing the perfect light, Antlers pursues the monster, looking for that one perfect shot when the sun hits it just right. Of course, both Antlers and his camera get eaten, and the footage is lost.

The monster attacks again, and Em and OJ run for their lives. The monster—now ballooning out like an ethereal parachute—has Em cornered, but OJ, sacrificing himself, draws it away. Em flees on the reporter’s motorcycle to the abandoned theme park. She releases a giant inflatable balloon-version of Jupe to lure the monster over a wishing well. Earlier in the movie, it was established that the wishing well is an old-fashioned crank camera, where tourists could get souvenir photos. While the monster flies overhead, Em turns the crank and takes photo after photo—finally capturing photographic proof of the monster.

The monster tries to swallow the balloon, but it blocks the monster’s narrow airway. Instead, the balloon pops, killing the monster for good. And as for OJ? He rides back into the theme park, unharmed. It’s a happy ending for both Em and OJ, assuming they are able to sell their photo for money.

OK, but what is the Nope movie meaning?

Nope is a movie about the dangers of humankind attempting to tame nature for profit, especially when it comes to using wild animals in Hollywood. Jupe thought he could tame the predator to do his bidding to put on a show, and he paid the price. Antlers didn’t know when to call it a day on set, and he paid the price, too. Only OJ—who grew up training horses for this very purpose— knew to treat the animal with respect, to meet it on its turf, to play by its rules, and then maybe, just maybe, the animal will let the human capture it on camera.

How is the chimp in Nope connected?

The chimp is another metaphor for humankind’s attempt to tame a wild animal for the sake of a Hollywood product. As a child, Jupe witnessed exactly how dangerous it was for a group of actors to treat a chimp as if it were made for human entertainment, and not an animal born in the wild. But rather than learn his lesson, Jupe chose to exploit his trauma. Perhaps—and this is just a theory—he believed since the chimp didn’t kill him, he was special. Perhaps he believed he would be an exception for Jean Jacket, too. Obviously, he was wrong.