The Ending Of Interstellar Finally Explained

Directed by Christopher Nolan, Interstellar is a fantastic tale of time, space, and love.

But if you got a bit lost in the final act of the film, we wouldn’t blame you.

So let’s do our best to walk through the bizarre, mind-bending ending of Interstellar.

Life on Earth isn't great in Interstellar.

Massive dust storms are tearing up the planet, crops are failing, and soon, humanity will

cease to exist.

As we learn at the beginning of the film, a group of 12 scientists traveled through

a mysterious wormhole that appeared near Saturn, to see if the 12 planets on the other side

could sustain human life.

A few years later, the Endurance and its crew including Matthew McConaughey's Cooper and

Anne Hathaway's Brand are going to visit the three most promising planets in the hopes

of colonizing one.

When they arrive on Dr. Mann's planet, the heroic scientist assures them his icy cold

spot is the perfect place for humans to live.

"Our world is cold, stark, but undeniably beautiful."

Unfortunately, it's soon all revealed to be a ruse.

Although each of the original 12 scientists knew their trip was one-way, Mann admits he

never fully considered the possibility that his planet would be uninhabitable, and that

he might die alone.

Although he resisted the urge for years, he eventually falsified his survey data to coax

another team to travel to his planet, intending to use the Endurance to escape.

At this point, Mann is so desperate to leave that he'll do anything, even kill.

Paranoid that the Endurance crew won't go along with his plan once they learn what he's

done, Mann attempts to kill Cooper so he can make his getaway.

Back on Earth, Cooper's now-grown children find themselves at odds.

His daughter, Murph, played by Jessica Chastain, has realized the surface of our planet has

become uninhabitable.

So naturally, she's trying to persuade her brother, Tom, to bring his family to the secret

NASA facility where she's been working on the gravitational equation that would allow

humanity to escape into space en masse.

But despite Murph's warnings, Tom refuses to abandon the farmhouse where they grew up.

After Cooper left them in their grandfather's care when they were children, never to be

heard from again, Tom lost all faith in NASA's ability to help them.

"Dad didn't raise you to be this dumb, Tom."

"Dad didn't raise me, Grandpa did.

And he's buried out back with Mom and Jesse."

Convinced her brother is making a terrible mistake, Murph sets fire to Tom's corn fields,

knowing that since Tom relies on his crops for survival, he'll be forced to drive out

to try to extinguish the blaze.

That buys Murph enough time to return to the house and evacuate Tom's wife and son, likely

in the hopes that once Tom realizes his family has gone to the NASA facility, he'll have

no choice but to join them.

Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.