Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the film NopeYou’ve seen her. Even if you haven’t seen Jordan Peele’s Nope, you’ve seen the mysterious woman in the hat in the movie’s trailers. She has the thick veil that blows aside in the breeze, revealing a terrifyingly disfigured face.
If you have seen the film, you will know that that scene from the trailer is really the only glimpse you see of that disfigurement. If you were hoping for more gore, this isn’t the movie for you. However, there is a very good reason for the woman’s disfigurement.
That woman is Mary Jo Elliott, the actress who co-starred opposite Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun) in Gordy’s Home. As children, the two actors starred as siblings in the show about a family who had a pet chimpanzee, Gordy. Unfortunately, during a second season episode about Gordy’s birthday, Mary Jo’s character gives Gordy a box of balloons as a gift. One of the balloons pops, which alarms Gordy and makes him revert to his animal instincts.
Gordy goes berserk and kills the two actors who play the parents. He attacks Mary Jo, and while he doesn’t kill her, he maims her beyond recognition. Gordy is shot dead by his handler before he can attack Ricky, who is hiding beneath a table.
Mary Jo visits Ricky at Jupiter’s Claim to see his brand new Star Lasso Experience. She wears a sweatshirt with her picture on it because her face is completely unrecognizable now, and she hides her disfigurement behind the veil. But the sweatshirt photo – clearly a headshot from when she was a child – has her smiling brightly. In the basket of her scooter, she has several brightly-colored pinwheels, as if she is trying to create the smiles she can no longer create naturally on her face.
Ricky intends to use the show to display what he believes is his skill with animals – or, in this case, with creatures from another world. At his show, Ricky plans on using a horse to bait the alien for the amusement of the paltry crowd. Unfortunately, the alien – who is nicknamed Jean Jacket by OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em (Keke Palmer) – eats everyone in the theater. They get a show, but the theatrics are short-lived.