Ryan Coogler Reveals What Smoke and Stack Were Up to Before SINNERS
With Sinners dominating the conversation this awards season and turning into a full-on pop culture event, fans are digging deeper into every corner of Ryan Coogler’s Southern gothic vampire epic.
Whether or not it walks away with a pile of Oscars, the film has already carved out a legacy, and that curiosity around its characters hasn’t slowed down.
Coogler has mostly let the movie speak for itself, even going as far as shutting down sequel chatter. But he recently decided to open the vault just a crack and share some juicy backstory about Smoke and Stack, the color-coded twin chaos agents played by Michael B. Jordan.
Long before their legendary return home and that unforgettable night at the juke joint, these two were living wild, complicated lives that stretched far beyond what the film directly shows.
In a conversation with Proximity Media, Coogler shared a much earlier chapter in the twins’ story, starting with the darkest turning point of all. Spoilers ahead, though let’s be real, most of you already know the deal.
“They killed their father, hid out at Mary’s mom’s place, then went to New York and joined the military,” Coogler said. “Went to fight in France, and they went back home for a little bit. Mary was older, so that was when Stack and Mary happened.”
That revelation reframes a lot of what we see onscreen, but Coogler wasn’t done filling in the blanks. According to him, the twins’ lives didn’t just drift apart, they fully splintered for years at a time.
“It was like a three-year run where the twins had basically broken up. Smoke and Annie got their house, and Stack and Mary went to Little Rock. When [Smoke and Annie] lost their daughter was when things got rocky; they both basically left their partners and went to Chicago.”
By the time Sinners kicks off, that shared history is already weighing heavy on everyone involved. Smoke and Stack’s return isn’t just a homecoming, it’s the collision point of grief, guilt, and unresolved love.
Knowing what they went through with Annie and Mary actually makes those early scenes hit a little harder, especially the tension simmering just beneath the surface between the couples. It gives us more understanding of the characters.
The film already hints at their Chicago days, including scamming Italian and Irish gangs and even crossing paths with Al Capone’s crew. But Coogler’s added context stretches the emotional timeline further back, giving fans a clearer sense of why everything feels so brittle when the twins walk back into town.
I loved that Coogler offered up this extra lore. It adds texture to the film and characters.