Sinners ending explained: who survives in the Michael B. Jordan movie?

All Michael B. Jordan’s characters in Sinners, twin brothers Smoke and Stack, wanted was to open up a juke joint for their community in 1930s Mississippi and make a little money. What they got was a bloodfest against some supernatural opponents — vampires, to be specific.

That’s not a spoiler, as the official trailer for Sinners made it pretty obvious that this was going to be a vampire movie — as you’ll read in our official Sinners review, it is one of the more entertaining vampire movies you’ll watch. However, as we look to break down the Sinners ending in this post, we are obviously going to get into some Sinners SPOILERS, so if you haven’t seen the movie, then we recommend you do that before continuing any further.

But first, let’s quickly recap some of the key details of the movie.

As mentioned, Jordan plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who have returned to their home in the Mississippi Delta after years away serving both in World War One and then working the gangster scene in Chicago. Now they hope to make something of their own by opening a juke joint, buying an old saw mill from a white man, Hogwood (David Maldonado), who assures them they won’t be bothered by the Klu Klux Klan.

To help them out with their planned grand opening, they turn to old friends. Among them are local merchants Bo (Yao) and Grace Chow (Li Jun Li), veteran blues player Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) and the physically imposing but affable Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller). They also rely on family members, including their young cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), who's a talented and aspiring blues musician despite his pastor father’s wishes, and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), Smoke’s former partner, who he shared a child with who tragically died in infancy.

Ultimately, they get things up and running and welcome a good-sized crowd. One member of the crowd that forces her way in is Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), who knew the twins years ago and had a close relationship with Stack.

Away from the club, a man, Remmick (Jack O’Connell) rushes to the house of a young white couple, Bert (Peter Dreimanis) and Joan (Lola Kirke), seeking protection from men chasing him. Bert and Joan accept him in, which, unfortunately is a tragic mistake, as Remmick is a vampire and quickly turns them both.

As the party continues on, Remmick and his newly minted vampires are drawn to Sammie’s powerful music, and decide this is their new target. That sets off the exhilarating second half of the movie, which we'll dive into detail on below.

Does Michael B. Jordan survive in Sinners?

Smoke and the others are very skeptical of Remmick when he tries to be invited into the club, ultimately turning him away. However, knowing they need the money, Mary goes off to see if Remmick has anything real to offer that would be worth letting them in. Unfortunately, that leads to Mary getting bitten.

After she turns she appears normal, which allows her to get back into the club (vampires must be invited into a place). She then pulls stack into a side room under the guise of making love, only to bite him. Smoke bursts in on the scene and shoots Mary, but she quickly gets back up and runs out of the club, promising that they’ll kill them all.

Now knowing that something supernatural is happening, the party ends and all the guests leave, as does Bo so he and Grace can head back home to their daughter. But unfortunately, everyone that left the club is fair game for the vampires, and they are all turned, including Bo and Cornbread. Stack also turns, waking up and eventually joining the others outside.

Annie uses her knowledge of the supernatural to explain how they can kill the vampirest (garlic, wooden stake to the heart, silver) and explains for those that are turned their souls are trapped in their bodies, unable to move on to the next life. Because of that, she makes Smoke promise to kill her if she gets bitten, so her soul can move on and she can rejoin their baby in the afterlife.

If the remaining survivors — Smoke, Sammie, Annie, Grace, Delta Slim and Pearline (Jayme Lawson) — can last to the morning, then they’ll be safe. But of course the vampires know this too, so they taunt those inside. Because the vampires share their memory collectively once they’ve turned, Remmick knows to threaten Grace’s daughter and reveal that Hogwood lied to Smoke, as members of the Klan are planning to come and kill whoever is at the club in the morning. This gets to Grace, who rather than risk the vampires going after her daughter invites them all into the club.

This sets off a big fight, where unfortunately Grace dies, while Pearline, Delta Slim and Annie are bitten. Smoke keeps his promise to Annie and kills her before she turns.

The vampires keep coming though, with Remmick particularly interested in Sammie, believing his music abilities have the power to connect them back with their ancestors. As Smoke deals with the Stack vampire, Sammie makes a run for it. But Remmick catches up with him. However, Sammie is able to bash Remmick in the head with his guitar, which has a silver component that severely wounds the vampire. Smoke, after taking care of Stack, delivers the final blow to Remmick by stabbing him through the heart with a stake. The icing on the cake, the sun rises and evaporates all of the other vampires.

Though they are safe from those enemies, Smoke sends Sammie home knowing Hogwood is on his way. The former solider makes relatively quick work of them, however he takes a shot to the stomach in the process. As he is finishing off Hogwood, Smoke sees Annie, clothed in white and holding their baby. By taking his baby in his arms, Smoke passes over into the afterlife.

What happens to Sammie in Sinners?

Sammie returns to the church his father preaches at, as it is Sunday morning. Shaken to his core and with claw scratches across his face from Remmick, Sammie’s father, Jedidiah (Saul Williams), tells his son to drop what is left of his guitar and renounce the devil that comes along with it. However, Sammie is reluctant, despite his father’s powerful pleas.

Ultimately, Sammie doesn’t drop the guitar. He gets in the car and drives off the plantation, something that he has longed of doing.

We then jump 60 years later, to see an elderly Sammie, identifiable by the scar on his face, playing guitar in a band, his dream of becoming a musician complete and clearly having fought off the devils.