In a newly unearthed interview, the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey has finally been explained by the 1968 sci-fi movie's director, Stanley Kubrick, himself.

For 50 years the film's ambiguous ending has been the subject of debate among fans, with numerous theories providing a possible explanation. But now, for the first time in history, a re-emerged interview with Kubrick has revealed exactly what happened at the end of the film.

According to the YouTube account that shared the footage, the interview is an excerpt from a 1980 documentary by filmmaker Jun'ichi Yaoi on the paranormal. Yaoi interviewed him for the film as Kubrick was in the process of filming his horror classic The Shining.

Although the documentary was never released, io9 reports that a VHS tape of the raw footage was sold in 2016, and has mysteriously made its way online this week.

In the footage, Kubrick admitted that he had avoided explaining the ending because, "when you just say the ideas they sound foolish, whereas if they’re dramatized one feels it."