Warner Bros.
The following story contains spoilers for Sinners (2025).
SINNERS,FROM RYAN Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan, is the first genuine cinema sensation of 2025 (Sorry, we’re not counting A Minecraft Movie.). The original, 1930s-set story about twins returning home to the Mississippi Delta after spending time working for Al Capone in Chicago, is not only Coogler’s most ambitious, most personal, and flat-out best movie to date, but the way he’s gone about making it may just shake up the entire industry. Coogler, who previously received acclaim for his work on Fruitvale Station, Creed, and the Black Panther franchise, worked a rare kink into his contract with Warner Bros. Discovery: After 25 years, he reclaims ownership of his film from the studio’s library (Vulture has a great piece explaining this whole situation in detail).
At the core of all of that, though, is the fact that Sinners is Coogler’s first film that’s not either based on real events (Fruitvale Station depicted the real-life 2009 killing of a man named Oscar Grant) or existing as part of a larger franchise (Creed spun off from the Rocky series, and Black Panther is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe). This story, it turns out, is Coogler’s in more literal ways than one.
The writer/director takes every chance he can to make sure his Sinners tale is a complete one. If the 1932-set story is his novel, then his first credits scene—which shoots the action 60 years forward, into 1992—is his epilogue, and the second credits scene is something of a cap on all the fun we just had. It’s a wide-spanning, complete story, and already clearly one that will be rewarding to return to time and time again.
Now, let’s be clear—this is no simple story. There’s crime, there’s racism, and, of course, there are vampires. There’s a lot going on. But in Coogler’s credits scenes, he does manage to put a cap on a story that purposefully leaves a couple loose ends open. Let’s dive in, shall we?
Yes! Not only does Sinners have a credits scene—it has two. The first, in particular, is more of an epilogue on the movie, an extended sequence that tells us a lot about the key characters and is set decades after the events depicted in the rest of the film. You really won’t want to miss that one.
The second theme is less plot heavy, but still keeps you in the world of this story and allows you to spend time with these characters for just a bit longer.
Warner Bros.
The first credits scene in Sinners is hardly a surprise, as once the main portion of the film ends and the credits begin to roll, we immediately jump 60 years in time to 1992, where Sammie is now a celebrated blues musician (played by the great Buddy Guy) performing at his own club (named Pearline’s, after Jayme Lawson’s lovely-but-doomed character). The scene continues as the old Sammie is sitting at his bar having a drink, and his employees tell him that a couple people outside offered some extra money to come in, despite the bar being closed. And then our minds get briefly blown: Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) enter Pearline’s, rocking their best ’90s attire. A couple items of note include Stack’s four-fingered ring that says STACK (perhaps a nod to Radio Raheem’s famous accessories in Spike Lee’s 1989 classic Do The Right Thing), his comfy-looking colorful sweater, along with Mary’s high ponytail and large hoop earrings. Sammie is shocked… but not that shocked. He had an idea this day was coming, more or less.
Stack explains the whole deal: Smoke spared him on that day in 1932, forcing him to promise that he would leave Sammie along and let him live the great life he was destined to live. Stack then takes a sniff, senses Sammie doesn’t have much time left in his life, and makes an offer: He can turn him into a vampire. Sammie hardly considers it. “I’ve seen enough of this place,” he says. Stack asks Sammie to play a song, and he does.
After the song and before they part ways for what will almost certainly be the final time, Sammie and Stack once again reflect on that fateful day. Sammie says that before the sun went down, it was the greatest day of his life; Stack agrees, noting that it was the last time he saw his twin brother, the last time he saw the sun, and the last time he truly felt free.
Sinners is a story about family, about taking control of your own life, your own space, and your own narrative. And the ending here finds people who, one way or another, despite the obstacles thrown at them along the way, have managed to do that in distinctly different ways.
The second credits scene is far less plotty than the first, instead just depicting a short scene of Miles Caton, as Sammie singing “This Little Light of Mine” in his father’s church. A fitting cap for the character known as “Preacher Boy,” and a nice button for a movie that (in a very complimentary way) isn’t always so nice.
Ending with Sammie playing the guitar is a particularly interesting way for Coogler to put a bow on things—considering Caton didn’t even know how to play when he first auditioned for the part. As it turned out, the 20-year-old actor had been touring with R+B star (and Oscar winner) H.E.R., and she connected him for the role.
“She called me one day, and she told me that there was a role that she thought I should audition for,” he said in a TikTok interview. “It was a young kid playing the guitar. I didn’t really know how to play the guitar, but I knew I could sing, and that was one of the prompts. I just sent in my audition tape and I got a callback.”
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
