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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48604
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

It's absolutely fine to introduce a new POV late in a story IF:

1. It's the POV of a now well-known character, whose motives were already a significant plot point, and the clarification of those motives by seeing the world through that character's eyes serves the story you were always telling. (Say, the mysterious stranger your protagonist has long loved, but often been puzzled by.)

2. It's the POV of a formerly unknown character, who has been actively moving the story up to this point, and that revelation serves the story you were always telling. (Say, the mastermind who's been pulling people's strings all along, who is finally making his move.)

3. It's a new character intimately connected to a major character, introduced and acting in a way that serves the story you were always telling. (Say, the naïve young child of your protagonist, being innocently lured away by the mastermind, unbeknownst to the soon-to-be-devastated parents.)

In cases 1 and 2, the immediate payoff must justify both the introduction of the POV, and the long wait to introduce it. In case 3, you may be building to the climax, or possibly introducing a bit of epilogue. In the climax-building case, you need to building good tension. In every case, the common thread is that you're still serving the same story.

I'm of an opinion that a good reader is not a delicate piece of porcelain, which might shatter if jarred by a writer's unexpected tactics. Make me care about the characters. Make the plot interesting and reasonably logical. Surprise me, but keep telling me the kind of story I signed up for. And don't lose me by being too vague or indirect, or by doing something just to be strange. If you can manage all of that, most readers will be fairly flexible about the minutiae of your technique.

Original score: 2