Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is known for its heartbreaking ending, though the movie accidentally spoiled its ending early in the opening scenes. Christopher Nolan’s epic sci-fi movie followed Coop (Matthew McConaughey), an ex-pilot who lives as a farmer with his two children in an apocalyptic future. After being called by NASA to find a planet that humanity can safely inhabit, Coop is thrown through the malleability of time and space, with his children working to save humankind on Earth in real-time as he does so from outer space on a completely different time continuum.
The heart of Interstellar is the relationship between Coop and his young daughter Murph, a head-strong, brilliant mind who Coop has to watch progressively age in just a short amount of time. After one mission that took only a few hours for Coop and Brand to accomplish, he returns to the ship to find that he and his daughter are now the same age, as 23 years have elapsed on Earth. Much of Nolan's Interstellar plot mystery surrounded not just whether Coop would find a new home for mankind, but also whether he could still salvage humanity on Earth in the time he’s away. The fate of Murph back on Earth was a mystery once Brand revealed they had no intentions of saving mankind on the planet, which is why the revelation that Murph saved mankind and survived into old age was so powerful.
The Old Murph reveal was the most important aspect of Insterstellar’s ending, but this reveal was already spoiled within the movie’s first five minutes. The opening scene of Interstellar has a woman speaking about her memories of when dust and blight plagued humankind on Earth, with the captions labeling her as “Old Woman.” Since the next woman to speak in the opening scene is Ellen Burstyn, viewers who have already seen Interstellar's time-based movie would cue into this being Old Murph right off the bat, but it wouldn’t mean anything for first-time watchers. However, only about a minute later, she speaks for Interstellar’s voiceover, with the subtitles this time labeling her as “Old Murph.” If audiences watch Interstellar for the first time with subtitles on, the ending reveal of Murph surviving into old age is spoiled in the opening scene.
Since the interview videos from future generations about the era of blight impacting Earth’s sustainability were primarily derived from Ken Burns’ documentary about the real-life Dust Bowl, there was no explicit indication that the woman in the opening scene would even be connected to the Cooper family. Unless viewers recognized Ellen Burstyn and knew she had an important role in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, the opening scene would have little to no bearing on the ending’s Murph revelation. Ellen Burstyn’s interviews as Old Murph for Interstellar’s opening scene make her look far more youthful than when she’s on her deathbed in the film’s ending, so many may not have even recognized her as the same character.
The Old Murph reveal in Interstellar’s opening scene may have been intentional by Christopher Nolan, but it largely goes over the head of audiences. Without the subtitles informing viewers that Ellen Burstyn is Old Murph, it’s hinted by her voiceover saying her dad “wasn’t always a farmer,” then cutting to actor Mattew McConaughey’s character working on the farm. However, at the same time, every other testimonial in Interstellar’s interviews comes from elderly individuals who aren’t connected to the characters in any way, so many who didn’t recognize Ellen Burstyn figured she was another real-life Dust Bowl survivor. Since the Old Murph reveal only lasts a few seconds in the opening scene and doesn’t return until Interstellar’s ending, it still doesn’t ruin the movie whatsoever, as the importance of the film is how Murph and Coop save humanity together.