Ryan Coogler dives into the lore of Michael B Jordan’s Smoke and Stack in Sinners

Fresh off making Oscar history with the highest ever number of nominations, including Best Picture, it seems the Sinners universe isn’t done yet.

In a new interview, below, writer/director Ryan Coogler dives deep into the history of twin brothers Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B Jordan in the vampire hit.

Coogler explains that before we meet the twins, they had a dark and storied history already behind them: “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, and they went back home for a little bit. Mary was older, so that was when Stack and Mary happened.

“It was like a three-year-run where the twins had basically broke up; Smoke and Annie got their house & Stack and Mary went to Little Rock. When they lost their daughter, was when things got rocky; they both basically left their partners and went to Chicago”

This is all lore-rich stuff and, given how the first movie ended, feels like it’s ripe to see a sequel which could explore the brothers’ past and future (I don’t want to give too much away), a sequel that seems to be already in development.

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It looks like Ryan Coogler is set to direct Sinners 2

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Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Written and directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Ryan Coogler, Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan (the “Black Panther” and “Creed” franchises) in a dual role, joined by Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld (“Bumblebee,” “True Grit”), Jack O’Connell (“Ferrari”), Wunmi Mosaku (“Passenger”), Jayme Lawson (“The Woman King”), Omar Benson Miller (“True Lies”) and Delroy Lindo (“Da 5 Bloods”).

The film is produced by Coogler and frequent collaborators Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler. The executive producers are Ludwig Göransson, Will Greenfield and Rebecca Cho.

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Coogler’s behind-the-camera artisans include his “Black Panther” franchise collaborators: director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Oscar-winning production designer Hannah Beachler, editor Michael P. Shawver, Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, and Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter.

Check out the interview here:

SINNERS lore unlocked pic.twitter.com/Moq4MpEBAg

— PROXIMITY MEDIA (@proximitymedia) January 27, 2026

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Full list of 2026 Oscar Nominations:

Best Picture
Bugonia
F1: The Movie
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Best Actress
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor
Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress
Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Director
Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Original Screenplay
Robert Kaplow, Blue Moon
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Adapted Screenplay
Will Tracy, Bugonia
Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein
Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, Train Dreams

Animated Feature
Arco
Elio
Kpop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

Documentary Feature
The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor

International Feature
The Secret Agent, Brazil
It Was Just an Accident, France
Sentimental Value, Norway
Sirāt, Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia

Editing
Stephen Mirrione, F1: The Movie
Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another
Olivier Bugge Coutté, Sentimental Value
Michael P. Shawver, Sinners

Cinematography
Dan Laustsen, Frankenstein
Darius Khondji, Marty Supreme
Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another
Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners
Adolpho Veloso, Train Dreams

Original Score
Jerskin Fendrix, Bugonia
Alexandre Desplat, Frankenstein
Max Richter, Hamnet
Jonny Greenwood, One Battle After Another
Ludwig Goransson, Sinners

Casting
Nina Gold, Hamnet
Jennifer Venditti, Marty Supreme
Cassandra Kulukundis, One Battle After Another
Gabriel Domingues, The Secret Agent
Francine Maisler, Sinners

Production Design
Frankenstein
Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau

Hamnet
Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton

Marty Supreme
Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis

One Battle After Another
Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

Sinners
Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne

Costume Design
Deborah L. Scott, Avatar: Fire and Ash
Kate Hawley, Frankenstein
Malgosia Turzanska, Hamnet
Miyako Bellizzi, Marty Supreme
Ruth E. Carter, Sinners

Visual Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1: The Movie
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners

Sound
F1: The Movie
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirât

Makeup and Hairstyling
Frankenstein
Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, & Cliona Furey

Kokuho
Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino, & Tadashi Nishimatsu

Sinners
Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, & Shunika Terry

The Smashing Machine
Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin, & Bjoern Rehbein

The Ugly Stepsister
Thomas Foldberg & Anne Cathrine Sauerberg

Original Song
Dear Me
from Diane Warren: Relentless; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

Golden
from KPop Demon Hunters; Music and Lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon, and Teddy Park

I Lied to You
from Sinners; Music and Lyric by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson

Sweet Dreams of Joy
from Viva Verdi!; Music and Lyric by Nicholas Pike

Train Dreams
from Train Dreams; Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner; Lyric by Nick Cave

Live-Action Short
Butcher’s Stain
A Friend of Dorothy
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
The Singers
Two People Exchanging Saliva

Documentary Short
All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly A Strangeness

Animated Short
Butterfly
Forevergreen
The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Retirement Plan
The Three Sisters