Nope ending explained · Cinespective

What happens

OJ gives up his horse to draw the creature out, and Emerald photographs it with an old hand-cranked camera, which doesn't count as looking back at it. The picture works, and the three survivors finally have proof the creature exists.

The last image

The final image is Emerald's photograph itself, a still picture taken by an old mechanical camera and proof of what hovers above the valley.

What it says

The ending is about who gets seen, and on whose terms. Jupe tried to turn the creature into a show and was consumed. The Haywoods win by respecting its nature and using the oldest image-making tool there is, a camera and a horse.