Editor's Note: The following contains Nope spoilers.Going into Nope, no one knew exactly what the plot would entail. The trailer, as most do these days, seemed to give away too much detail, showing a flying saucer dropping from the clouds, hinting that this would be Jordan Peele’s version of an alien invasion film. Many fans didn’t trust that idea, however. It seemed too easy for the complicated mind of Jordan Peele, who gave us such twists and turns with Get Out and Us.

If you’ve seen Nope, you know there was good reason to doubt the easy expectations. Nope is so much more than your typical alien invasion film. There’s a lot more going on, as there always is with Peele’s films. And that alien spaceship? Well, the biggest twist was that it wasn’t a ship at all but a creature.

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Image Via Universal Pictures

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Before that big reveal, Peele keeps the audience in the dark with nothing but questions. Why are there coins dropping from the sky? What’s with the chimp scenes? Peele knows what film we’re expecting to see though. His early work has been compared to Steven Spielberg and M. Night Shyamalan. You’d be forgiven if you assumed that Nope was going to be Peele’s version of Signs, but perhaps with a message about race or classism added in. Peele played into those audience expectations with the alien fake out scene.

Late into the film’s first act, Haywood Hollywood Horse Ranch trainers OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) visit a small Wild West theme park called Jupiter’s Claim and its owner Ricky Park (Steven Yeun). OJ and Emerald have already sold Ricky Park a dozen horses. When OJ mentions wanting to buy a couple of the horses back, Ricky segues from the topic and tells the brother and sister the strange story of how a chimp named Gordy went on a homicidal rampage on the set of a sitcom Ricky was a child actor in. Much later, we realize why Ricky is so quick to not talk about the horses. They’re dead. He has been feeding his purchases to the alien creature in the sky during his theme park’s big show, the Star Lasso Experience.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, OJ and Emerald have gotten quick sightings of something not of this earth in the clouds. They install cameras around the property to catch the UFO, but then OJ has a very close encounter with the object of their fears.

That night, while at home, OJ hears strange sounds out in the barn. When he goes to investigate, a short, alien-like form peeks out at him from around a corner. Then another and another. It’s hard to make them out. They’re blurry and far away, but with their big alien heads and thick furry bodies, they’re definitely not human. It’s incredibly creepy, and a great reminder of the cornfield scene in Signs. Here it is, we’re already going to get a look at the film’s aliens.

OJ wants to get photographic evidence, but he is understandably freaked out as the aliens get closer and closer. Then, as another alien peeks from behind a corner where a frightened and fallen OJ lies, the alien removes its head. It turns out to be a mask. The three aliens are a group of children in costume. They laugh and tell OJ not to mess with Jupiter’s claim before running off.

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Image via Universal Pictures

We see the children later during the Star Lasso Experience, which leads the audience to assume that they’re Ricky’s children. That must mean he sent them to scare OJ. Why? Did he not want him asking questions about his horses? Was he trying to scare OJ off because he wanted to buy his ranch?

With Ricky becoming alien food later on, we never get answers to those questions. We do get some answers in the alien fake out scene, however, through Jordan Peele’s keen ability to know our expectations, have us lean into them and fear what he shows, then turn the tables on us. If you’re wondering if this is going to be another traditional alien invasion film with little green men, if you’re wondering if this is going to be like Signs and so many other similar films, Jordan Peele’s answer is…nope.