Interstellar,released in 2014, is regarded as one of director Christopher Nolan’s greatest works. With a haunting soundtrack to compliment its intense, nerve-wracking storyline, and a talented cast,Interstellaris a sci-fi masterpiece. The film follows Matthew McConaughey in the lead role as Joseph Cooper, a former NASA pilot. He and a team of researchers are given the task of finding planets that can sustain life when a crop blight and a second Dust Bowl are making Earth uninhabitable. The team — following the research of NASA physicist, Professor Brand — travels through a wormhole across the galaxy, in a bid to save humankind from extinction.
The film intertwines complex quantum physics concepts together withraw human emotionsof familial love, isolation, grief, and the hope of survival. Centering on these themes and tying them together masterfully, Nolan offers a bittersweet but hopeful ending at the conclusion of the 2-hour and 49-minute runtime. However, this is not the only ending that was planned forInterstellar.Another ending, with the ability to alter the entire direction and effect of the film, was reportedly first penned.
How Does Interstellar End?
Interstellar
In true Christopher Nolan style, the ending that viewers got fromInterstellarisnothing short of elaborate. When Joseph Cooper discovers an abnormal pattern on the bedroom floor after a dust storm, he deduces it to be the geographic coordinates of a NASA facility and embarks on a mission to find habitable planets orbiting the black hole Gargantua.
Interstellarends on a bittersweet note. After ending up in a tesseract which gives him access to a fifth dimension, Cooper understands that the patterns on the bedroom floor that prompted his journey in the first place were created by himself as a message to his daughter, Murph. Despite Cooper’s motivation in drawing the patterns being to get Murph to make him stay, he realizes the past cannot be altered.
When Cooper finally returns after his odyssey, Murph has aged much more than he has, and she is on her deathbed. While Cooper looks much the same as he did when he left, 51 years have passed for those on habituated Earth. Murph even has her own family now. She tells her father that she will not live long and urges him to find Dr. Brand. Cooper, taking his daughter’s advice, travels back through a wormhole in search of Brand, who was last seen on Edmund’s planet, a place that has breathable air.
What Was Interstellar’s Alternate Ending?
Although the ending that finally made its way onto screens was one that offered a semblance of hope and optimism, the original ending that was planned for the film is noted to have been significantly darker. The initial ending was penned by Jonathan Nolan and would have made for a much bleaker watch, one which would have altered the entire tone and outcome of the film.
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Per Jonathan Nolan’s ending, the wormhole would collapse when Cooper attempts to communicate data back. This ending would have altered everything that takes place in the final act, including Cooperentering the black hole, the tesseract, and the fifth dimension. This would have meant that Joseph Cooper’s winning return after his space odyssey would have been wiped out from the film. Viewers would likely not have known what Cooper’s fate would have been after the wormhole collapsed on him. Does he survive? Does he ever return to Murph? What happens to humanity?Interstellarwould have had the most inconclusive, frustrating ending in all of Nolan’s filmography.
Will There Ever Be An Interstellar 2?
The intensity ofInterstellarand Christopher Nolan’s brilliance has had fans yearning for a sequel to the 2014 film for quite some time. Though it can be exhausting to keep up with Nolan’s convoluted plots, viewers have never stopped wanting more of the director’s work. The calls for a sequel are further motivated by the fact thatInterstellar’s ending left paths that could be explored in a second movie, especially that of Cooper and Amelia Brand reuniting.
However, despite long-time calls for a sequel, it is unlikely that Nolan will go ahead with a secondInterstellarfilm. The director is known for avoiding sequels, except forThe Dark Knighttrilogy. Nolan has reportedly spoken of the importance of standalone, original storytelling. Additionally, he has a rocky relationship with Warner Bros. due to the studio going for a day-and-date format, whereby works are simultaneously released on multiple platforms, most often streamers and theaters. Owing to the disagreement, Nolan teamed up with Universal Studios for his mega-hitOppenheimer.
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WithInterstellarbeing one of Christopher Nolan’smost famous works, and accumulating a $681 million gross worldwide, the final choice of the Nolan brothers regarding the ending of the movie clearly paid off. The themes of love and hope that the chosen ending ofInterstellarbrings is one that motivates and inspires, creating an extremely impactful work. AlthoughInterstellarmay never get a sequel, viewers can revel in the brilliance that is Nolan’s work and the optimistic ending that the film delivers.Stream on Prime Video.
