Nope: Everything We Know About Jordan Peele's Next Thriller

Peele's teaming up with Daniel Kaluuya for the second time.

Fans have been waiting for the next Jordan Peele film since the Academy Award-winning writer and director broke box office records with his sophomore film, Us, in 2019. Peele's taken over Hollywood since his debut film, Get Out, became a cultural phenomenon, and lately, he's been producing hit shows and films, including Lovecraft Country, The Twilight Zone, and the upcoming Candyman.

Now, four years after Get Out, Peele is reuniting with the film's breakout star, Daniel Kaluuya, for his next sure-to-be record-breaking hit, Nope. The first cryptic trailer (see above) reveals that stars Kaluuya and Keke Palmer will play owners of a Black-owned ranch who have a close encounter with the supernatural.

Here's what we know about Nope so far.

It's set to release in 2022.

Peele announced the name and release date of his third film on social media with a tweet of the film's mysterious poster. According to the artwork, Nope is set to release only in theaters on July 22, 2022, exactly one year after the announcement. Peele didn't include any other information, with the caption showing a single cloud emoji, similar to the cloud in the poster.

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Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun will star.

For Nope, Peele has recruited Daniel Kaluuya, his breakout star from Get Out. After Kaluuya received his first Oscar nom for Get Out, he won Best Supporting Actor this year for his performance as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.

Keke Palmer will star as the film's female lead, in her biggest dramatic role since 2019's Hustlers. Her casting was announced last February, and there were rumors at the time that she would be the film's antagonist, according to Collider. We'll have to wait until the trailer to see if the rumors are true.

Rounding out the main cast is Steven Yeun, another recent Oscar nominee, for his performance in Minari. Yeun has plenty of experience with thrillers, from starring in The Walking Dead to his performance in the 2018 film Burning.

Peele will write and direct this "new terror film."

Besides the casting and the new poster, very little is known about Nope so far. The poster's tagline describes the film as "a new terror from the mind of Academy Award winner Jordan Peele," according to Variety. Knowing Peele, fans won't get any more details than that until the trailer drops, leaving us to theorize over how a cloud can be terrifying (we all remember what he did with teacups and gold scissors).

The teaser shows Palmer and Kaluuya running a horse ranch under siege.

Though the clip doesn't reveal what this film's monster is, in classic Peele style, we do see some of the havoc it brings to the California desert. One scene shows a power outage interrupting Palmer's dance session, before the caption, "from Jordan Peele" literally descends on her house. Kaluuya's horse then gets spooked and runs away, with the actor later asking, "What's a bad miracle?"

There are also shots of all the characters, including Steven Yeun's cowboy, looking up at the sky in fear, followed by dust storms engulfing the ranch. In the final shot, as Palmer is fleeing the ranch, she gets sucked into the air.

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A new trailer reveals what's hiding behind the ominous cloud.

The final trailer (seen above) gives our first answers for the plot of the film, confirming that the threat looming above the California ranch town is not of this earth. After the mysterious force kills the father of Emerald and OJ (Palmer and Kaaluya), the siblings are pursed by something hiding in a cloud in the sky. Film buff Emerald gathers a team to get whatever's up there on tape, which OJ describes as big, bad, and "want[ing] attention."

Just some of the creepier clips included in the 3-minute trailer include a rain of blood, bodies swept up in a cyclone, and...death by falling keys? It ends with OJ saying the titular line, and we expect to be saying "Nope" along with him in theaters.

Peele says it's the most ambitious film of his career.

In an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip for Twitter Movies, the Get Out director spoke on writing and directing his upcoming third film.

"You know, this whole film is all about as ambitious a cinematic event as I have planned so far in my career," Peele said. "I tried to write a script that I didn't know how to pull off, and then assembled a team to help me pull it off. It's just, this is just one of these days in these weeks where it feels really good to be a director," Peele said.

Daniel Kaluuya says the film's centered on a brother-sister relationship.

While appearing in a panel talk at CultureCon last June, the Get Out actor shared a new hint towards the film's plot. Per Insider, the star said that the strained relationship between his and Keke Palmer's characters, ranch hands Emerald and OJ, will be the "throughline" of the film.

The Judas and the Black Messiah actor also said that the brother-sister dynamic was something that excited him about his role, since many can relate to tension between siblings.

"He's kind of disappointed in her. She's sick of him," he said, adding that even if you get "pissed off" by your sibling, "there's this bond that you just have each other's back no matter what bullshit happens."

"It was amazing to have that. It's a genuine love story between a brother and sister," he added.

Peele has shared a cryptic new website introducing "Jupiter's Claim."

As the film's release date gets closer, Peele has started revealing hints towards one of the film's settings. The Oscar winner posted a mysterious link on Twitter, leading fans to a website for Jupiter's Claim, the amusement park where Steven Yeun's character is based in the previous trailers.

The website mostly includes a tour of the "California Gold Rush theme park," where you can play games and visit sites including a theater, a general store, the "winking well," and a P.O. Box. Every so often, the site goes dark and a cryptic message appears, adding to the plot clues that are hidden throughout the site.

"Look down into the well. Look up toward the skies above. Whatever you may wish, it will not change anything. It cannot be undone. It cannot be unseen. If you fear the darkness that lies ahead, peer into the well and pray you may be spared," the message reads.

Watch this space for updates.

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