Interstellar ending explained: Does Cooper’s journey through the wormhole change everything?

Interstellar, released in November 2014, is an intellectually challenging sci-fi film directed by Christopher Nolan and produced by Emma Thomas and Nolan himself. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine. Filmed in a dystopian future Earth in an environmental disaster, it blends very personal human narratives with the secrets of space exploration.

The film was re-released on December 6 in a few chosen theaters as the tenth anniversary falls in 2024, allowing viewers to review the movie. Both supporters and detractors of Interstellar have become quite curious and debating about its ending. As the movie ends, the audience focuses on questions about time, love, and sacrifice.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the movie Interstellar. Reader discretion is advised.

The protagonist, Cooper, finally passes through the wormhole and into the tesseract, a higher-dimensional space in which time becomes fluid. Here he talks with his daughter Murph at several points in time to give her the vital knowledge required to save mankind.

In essence, the film concludes by demonstrating the power of love and sacrifice, while suggesting that humanity can transcend its current limitations.

The plot of Interstellar follows a team of astronauts who venture through a wormhole to find a new habitable planet. Cooper's path to save Earth consists of a sequence of surreal events, including a dramatic last scene in the tesseract in which the resolution depends on his relationship with his daughter Murph.

The film's ending implies that love is a force spanning time, space, and dimensions that let Cooper interact with Murph and finally save mankind.

What happens at the end of Interstellar?

The final scenes of Interstellar unfold with Cooper's heroic sacrifice and the resolution of key plot points that center around love, sacrifice, and human survival. As the astronauts approach the black hole, Cooper and TARS (the robot) dive into the singularity in a desperate bid to gather data that could save Earth.

While TARS is ejected safely, Cooper is pulled into the black hole, where time and space begin to lose their conventional structure.

Inside the wormhole, Cooper enters a tesseract, a higher-dimensional space that allows him to perceive time as a physical dimension. He sees various moments from his past, including key events with his daughter Murph.

By manipulating the environment inside the tesseract, Cooper can send a message to Murph through gravitational waves, providing her with the information needed to solve the equation to save humanity.

Murph's success depends on Cooper's actions. She decodes the data he provides and armed with this fresh insight, she can finish the work of Dr. Brand, a vital step towards the survival of mankind. Cooper's affection for his daughter cuts across time and geography to become the main emotional impetus behind the resolution of the movie.

The journey of Interstellar: A mission to save Earth

Clip from Interstellar (Image via Netflix)

The initial premise of Interstellar introduces Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former NASA pilot turned farmer, living in a future where humanity is facing extinction due to the Earth’s declining resources. The story begins with Cooper and his daughter Murph discovering a mysterious NASA facility underground.

Here, Cooper is hired to accompany a mission to investigate far-off planets via a wormhole close to Saturn in search of a new home for humans. Cooper must bid farewell to his little daughter, who is heartbroken by his leaving, as he sets off on this road.

Among the several scientific ideas, Interstellar offers is the theory of a wormhole as a portal to far-off regions of the universe. Driven by Dr. Brand (Anne Hathaway), the goal is to investigate three possibly habitable worlds to locate a new home for mankind.

These planets are on the other side of the wormhole, which offers special difficulties. One of the main themes is time dilation since Cooper and his group perceive time differently from the people back on Earth.

The Tesseract and Cooper's final sacrifice

As the film progresses, Cooper and Dr. Brand face increasingly difficult challenges. They reach a planet that experiences extreme time dilation due to the proximity of a supermassive black hole called Gargantua.

This delay leads to tragic consequences, as Cooper loses valuable time with his daughter Murph, who grows up to become a brilliant scientist. Cooper and Murph's tense relationship as she battles the abandonment she feels when her father sets off on the mission forms the emotional center of Interstellar.

The final moments of Interstellar see Cooper making a profound sacrifice to save both his crew and humanity. Cooper enters the event horizon of Gargantua and is pulled into a tesseract—a four-dimensional space. Inside the tesseract, Cooper interacts with the past through the bookshelves in Murph’s room, creating a loop that allows him to send crucial data back to her.

Cooper and Murph's love spans time and geography, and it is via their relationship that mankind is finally rescued. Cooper's path is one of emotional and intellectual knowledge leading to his reconnection with Murph and the survival of the human race, not only of space exploration.

The Tesseract: Time and space collide

In the film’s final act, Cooper is pulled into a tesseract after entering the black hole Gargantua. The tesseract represents a higher-dimensional space where time and space are malleable. It is here that Cooper experiences a surreal and emotionally charged moment.

He sees himself in Murph's childhood room, experiencing past events from her perspective. The tesseract allows Cooper to manipulate time and communicate with Murph in ways that are beyond normal human comprehension. This sequence suggests that love, in its purest form, is a force that transcends physical space and even time itself.

Cooper sends Murph the vital information she needs to solve the equation allowing humanity to flee Earth's dying atmosphere as he shapes the tesseract. The tesseract's events emphasize the close link between father and daughter and show how their relationship lets them interact across several dimensions.

This realization reinforces one of the central themes of the film: love as a transcendent force that connects individuals, even across vast distances and time periods.

Murph's role: The key to saving humanity

Played in her adult form by Jessica Chastain, Murph is essential for the film's ending. She is a scientist and the emotional anchor of the narrative throughout Interstellar, trying to balance her need to save mankind and her father's disappearance.

As an adult, Murph works tirelessly to solve the equation that will allow NASA to launch a massive space station, saving the remaining humans from Earth’s destruction. However, she is initially unaware of her father's role in the equation's solution.

In the final scenes, Cooper's actions in the tesseract send Murph the crucial data she needs to complete the equation. As the link between father and daughter reaches its zenith, this event marks both a scientific and a very emotional turning point.

Murph's ability to solve the equation guarantees the species' survival since it lets humans leave Earth and locate a new home. Through Murph, Interstellar emphasizes the importance of perseverance, hope, and the power of human connection, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Cooper's return: A new beginning

After Murph successfully solves the equation, the remaining humans can leave Earth and travel to a new planet. Cooper, having been rescued from the tesseract, is reunited with Murph, who is now an older woman.

The final moments of Interstellar feature a poignant reunion between father and daughter, filled with both joy and sadness. Murph has completed her work, but Cooper has lost precious years of his life. The reunion represents both the triumph of human ingenuity and the emotional cost of their journey.

As the movie ends, Cooper sets off once more on a mission, this time to locate Dr. Brand, who is alone on the new planet. The ending implies that the road of discovery is far from finished even if humans have found a new residence.

Cooper once more takes to the stars in search of answers and fresh future opportunities, so ending the movie on a note of optimism.

The symbolism of the black hole and the tesseract

The symbolism of the Black Hole and Tesseract (Image via Netflix)

The black hole Gargantua, which stands for both the boundaries of human knowledge and the chance for transcendence, is one of the main symbols in Interstellar. Comprising great gravitational force, the black hole can warp time and space.

Cooper's choice to plunge himself into the black hole symbolizes his readiness to give up his life for the benefit of mankind. A four-dimensional space inside the black hole, the tesseract investigates this idea of surpassing human constraints more broadly. Cooper can converse across time inside the tesseract, implying that time itself is not a linear experience.

Along with their technical consequences, the movie explores ideas of love, sacrifice, and the human experience using these scientific events. Eventually, the black hole and tesseract act as symbols for the unknown, signifying both the possible hazards and benefits of delving into cosmic secrets.

Cooper's legacy and the power of love

The ending of Interstellar leaves audiences with a sense of awe and contemplation. Cooper’s journey, both physical and emotional, illustrates the profound connections between humanity and the universe. Cooper and Murph help to save mankind from extinction through love, time, and sacrifice.

The movie implies that love is the ultimate tool for conquering the difficulties of the universe since it is a force strong enough to cross time and space. Interstellar leaves the audience hoping that, under the timeless link between father and daughter, Cooper's last mission will be carried on and that humans will always seek knowledge and survival.

Stay tuned for more news and updates on the re-release of Interstellar as 2024 progresses.

Edited by pshmueni