Viral Interstellar theory that changes the entire movie will blow your mind

It’s nearly 10 years since Interstellar dropped in cinemas and there are still new details coming to the fore, the latest being a theory that will completely change the way you look at the Christopher Nolan epic. 

The sci-fi movie has long been fertile ground for speculation thanks to Nolan’s layered storytelling and the film’s incorporation of real scientific theories, including relativity, quantum gravity, and higher-dimensional space.

However, this new fan theory argues there’s a more spiritual meaning behind Interstellar. The short version goes like this: Joseph Cooper died in the opening sequence of the film, and the events that followed were him passing into the afterlife. 

But hear TikToker StarkVerse out – this actually makes a lot of sense. 

So, if you remember back to the opening scene, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) has a dream in which he crashes his aircraft. Around an hour into the movie, the exact same footage is used again as Cooper and the team go through the planet’s atmosphere.

“At first I thought this was a simple mistake, but then I realized this is Christopher Nolan,” said the TikToker.  

“Christopher Nolan wouldn’t reuse the same footage without a purpose, right? It just didn’t make sense until I looked at it from another perspective.”

StarkVerse went on to point out that any person inside that crash “realistically should have died,” so he decided to rewatch the movie with the Cooper death theory front of mind – and this “changed everything.”

“So he dies, and then everything we see from there is his journey into the afterlife. He can’t stay on Earth and has to leave. And so the Lazarus mission hints at Cooper’s death and his journey into the unknown.”

There are many clues to support this theory, one of which is the Endurance crew repeatedly referring to “the big sleep.”

Then there’s the devastatingly emotional years of messages Cooper watches from his kids, which the TikToker said “sound so much like private thoughts that a person would have about their parents who suffered an untimely, accidental death.”

Another clue is when Cooper is in front of Gargantua, TARS tells him, “See you on the other side,” aka in the afterlife. 

But the biggest tell has to be after Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) tells Cooper that you see your children right before you die. And after Cooper crosses Gargantua’s event horizon, which StarkVerse says “symbolizes the final transition,” he sees Murph in the Tesseract before greeting her on her deathbed. 

“I always thought it was so weird when he entered the room full of people that no one seems to notice or even acknowledge Cooper,” he said. “It’s almost like he’s a ghost.”

Case closed? Many Interstellar fans think so. After amassing more than 7.6 million views over on TikTok, streamer JaredFPS shared the video on X/Twitter, where it’s been watched a whopping 11 million times. 

In response, one wrote, “YOOOO this sh*t just gave me chills!!! I’m about to rewatch it for the 100th time just to go in with this perspective.”

Another added, “I’ve always noticed that the footage was the same during both sequences, but never considered it had any meaning. However, always pointed out how nobody seems to even acknowledge him at the end, truly fascinating theory.”

“You’re going to have everyone rewatching tonight with new eyes,” said a third, while a fourth simply wrote, “Mind blown.”

Others aren’t convinced, including this person who said, “Love this theory but knowing productions… they just used the same footage shot on that one day they were using the lander. Tons of stuff like this in Nolan movies.”

But another pointed out, “I once heard Christopher Nolan say in an interview how he has to have five reasons to include each clip in his films. Has to have meaning to the story or it’s cut. And this theory explains the ending perfectly.”

For more from the big screen, check out the new movies to watch in cinemas this month, as well as the flicks heading to streaming. Why not also take a look at our ranking of the best action movies ever made, as well as our top horror choices.