Sinners Director Finally Reveals Smoke & Stack’s Troubled Backstory

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Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther, is sharing some previously unknown details about the characters in his new horror film, Sinners. The movie, which has just been nominated for an Oscar, stars Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, and Wunmi Mosaku in a unique vampire story. The film opens with the Smokestack twins (played by Jordan) returning to their hometown after being away for years, and it quickly becomes clear that there’s a lot we don’t know about their past.

In a recent interview with Proximity Media, Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan shared details about the backstories of characters in Sinners. The film follows the Smokestack twins as they return to Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1932, after being away for several years, and they’ve become known for their troubled past. Coogler explained how the twins earned their reputation and their history of military service, providing context for the events leading up to the film.

Ryan Coogler explained that the men’s father was killed, after which they took refuge with Mary’s mother. They then enlisted in the military and fought in France before eventually returning home for a short time.

Coogler explained that after serving in the military, the two men returned to Mississippi – that’s where Stack and Mary first met and began their relationship. According to the story told in Sinners, they still had strong feelings for each other even after Stack moved to Chicago, though their initial connection faced disapproval from Stack’s brother and Mary’s mother.

Coogler: “When they came back home, Mary was older, so that was when Stack and Mary happened.”

Michael B. Jordan described a shift in Stack’s perspective, realizing the woman he knew was no longer the young girl he remembered.

Coogler explained that Smoke and Mary saw her as a little sister, and their mother didn’t approve of the relationship.

Coogler explained that this period of living at home coincided with a three-year period where the twins’ partnership effectively ended. During this time, Stack and Mary pursued their relationship in Little Rock, while Smoke and Mary built a life together and had a child.

According to Coogler, the group had been drifting apart for about three years. Smoke and Annie had settled into a house together, while Stack and Mary moved to Little Rock. Things became difficult when they lost their daughter, leading both couples to separate and eventually reunite in Chicago.

Chicago is an important stop in the twins’ history leading up to the start of Sinners. When Smoke and Stack return, news of their involvement with Chicago gangs has preceded them. The movie establishes they were gone for seven years, though what they actually did during that time remains a mystery.

Jordan explained that Smoke and Stack were Al Capone’s enforcers, handling the tasks he preferred to avoid. While navigating Chicago’s criminal scene, the twins identified the most powerful figures and devised a plan to profit from the chaos.

According to Jordan, the main benefit of using Smoke and Stack for Capone was their ability to handle tasks he couldn’t risk doing himself. Because they were outsiders – and identical twins, which added another layer of obscurity – it was unlikely anyone would connect those jobs back to Capone.

Amidst all of that, they began to identify the key figures in Chicago’s criminal underworld – specifically, the Italian gangsters. They learned how to exploit the chaotic situation, escape, and build their own criminal enterprise elsewhere.

After completing their work in Chicago, Smoke and Stack went back to Mississippi. They used the criminal skills they’d learned to establish and operate their own nightclub.

The movie Sinners came out in April 2025 and you can now watch it on HBO Max. It quickly became a major success that year, earning more Oscar nominations than any other film in history.

Filling in the Blanks in Sinners’ Story

Even though Sinners feels like a finished story when it revisits the Smokestack brothers in 1932, their past—which isn’t fully explained—is often as captivating as what’s happening in the present.

Ryan Coogler carefully developed the twins’ pasts while writing Sinners, giving their backstories depth from the start. This created compelling dynamics between Mary and Stack, and Annie and Smoke, but also allowed viewers to piece together details themselves, like the twins’ connection to Al Capone in Chicago, with only hints provided.

Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s recent explanations of the backstory in Sinners answer many questions fans had about the characters Smokestack and Lightning. Given the film’s popularity, many are hoping for a follow-up, or even a story set earlier in time. However, Coogler might be wise to hold onto some of those story ideas, as he’s currently working on Black Panther 3 before potentially revisiting this world.

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2026-01-29 03:36