Smoke & Stack's Full Origin Story Before Sinners Officially Revealed By Ryan Coogler & Michael B. Jordan

Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan unveil the full backstory for Smoke and Stack before their fateful night with vampires in Sinners.

Jordan plays both twins, who return to their hometown in 1930s Mississippi after spending years in Chicago. There are references to their history as World War I veterans, their complicated relationships with Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), and their past criminal ventures, but their complete backstory is not revealed.

While speaking with Proximity Media, Coogler and Jordan explain some of the key details and clarify the timeline that are not explicitly outlined in the finished movie. This includes a period of time when Smoke and Stack were not together, how Mary and Stack's romantic relationship started, and why the twins reunited with one another in Chicago. Check out Coogler and Jordan's comments below:

Ryan Coogler: It was like a three-year run where the twins had basically broke up.

Michael B. Jordan: Yeah, the brothers were separate for a minute.

Ryan Coogler: They killed their father, hid out at Mary's mom's place, then went to New York and joined the military. Went to fight in France, came back, and they went back home for a little bit. And Mary was older, so, that was when Stack and Mary happened.

Michael B. Jordan: And seeing her in a different light...

Ryan Coogler: She was like a younger sister to them, you know, like Smoke and Mary's mom didn't love that. It was like a three-year run where the twins had basically broke up, where Smoke and Annie got their house and Stack and Mary went to Little Rock. When they lost their daughter was when things got rocky. They both basically left their partners and met up again in Chicago.

Michael B. Jordan: And that's when you see them coming back is at the beginning of our story.

Some of these details are inferred in Sinners, but Coogler and Jordan's explanation fills in the missing pieces of Smoke and Stack's lives before they return home and open up a juke joint. This particularly adds more context to Stack's relationship with Mary and how she went from being like a younger sibling to the woman he loved.

As indicated by Sinners' stellar reviews, along with a 97% critics' score and 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was critically acclaimed, and the missing backstory details did not have any kind of negative impact on the overall reception. Knowing the full origins behind Smoke and Stack's journeys is not essential, but it does add further layers and rewatch value to the already beloved film.

The positive response was later followed by Sinners' record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, the most that any movie has received in the history of the Academy Awards. These nominations include Best Picture, Best Director (Coogler), Best Actor (Jordan), Best Supporting Actor (Delroy Lindo), Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku), Best Original Screenplay (Coogler), Best Casting (Francine Maisler), Best Original Score (Ludwig Goransson), and Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter).

While Mary and Stack live on as vampires in Sinners' ending, which feels as though it could pave the way for a follow-up story, Coogler has been adamant that he has no interest in making a sequel and that it was designed to be a standalone story. This makes the new information about Smoke and Stack's backstory all the more important, as there are no plans to explore it in a future movie.

Release Date April 18, 2025

Runtime 138 minutes

Director Ryan Coogler

Writers Ryan Coogler

Producers Sev Ohanian, Zinzi Coogler, Ryan Coogler