What Happened to Smoke in 'Sinners' Is a Powerful End to a Tragic Character Arc (SPOILERS)

Spoiler alert: This article contains massive spoilers for the film Sinners.

There’s a lot to take in during the final stretch of Sinners, but nothing hits harder than Smoke’s ending. Played by Michael B. Jordan, Smoke is one of the movie’s twin brothers. By the end of the film, however, his journey comes to a heartbreaking yet strangely peaceful end. If you found yourself wondering what really happened to Smoke in Sinners, you aren’t alone.

While his brother Stack ends up turning into a vampire and escaping with Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), Smoke makes a totally different choice. It is that decision that weighs heavily on audiences as the movie rolls to credits. What happened exactly? Keep reading for a recap.

After saving Sammie and taking out Remmick, Smoke knows the Ku Klux Klan is coming for him. So, he gears up, grabs every weapon he has, and launches a surprise attack. It’s brutal, and it’s clear he’s not expecting to walk away from it. He ends up getting shot and falls next to a badly injured Hogwood, the leader of the Klan.

That’s when things shift. Smoke, lying there bleeding out, asks Hogwood for a cigarette. Hogwood hands him his pack, probably hoping it’ll save him. But, that moment leads into something way deeper, Variety confirms.

Smoke lights the cigarette, but when he looks over, he sees something he never expected — Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), who'd been killed the night before, sitting nearby, calmly feeding their baby girl, whom they lost when she was very young. Annie tells him to toss the cigarette if he wants to hold his daughter. It’s not just a sweet line — it means something. Smoke can’t hold onto his old life if he wants to be with the people he loves.

He drops the cigarette, shoots Hogwood one last time, and finally holds his child. It’s a powerful moment. For the first time in the movie, we see Smoke not as a fighter or criminal — but just as a dad. It’s the name Annie uses — Elijah, not Smoke — that shows he’s letting go of who he used to be.

Earlier in the film, Smoke takes off Annie’s magical charm bag before heading into the fight. That bag had kept him alive through wars and years of crime, and taking it off felt like he knew what was coming. It wasn’t just bravery — it was acceptance. He’d lost Stack, lost Annie, and lost the life he might have had. All that was left was one final stand.

Per USA Today, director Ryan Coogler later said in an interview that Smoke saw himself as too far gone to be saved. But, in those last moments, Annie shows up and offers him a way back to the man he used to be. That’s why the ending makes so much sense — it’s not about Smoke dying, it’s about Elijah coming home.

Smoke’s last stand wasn’t just about revenge. It was about finally being seen for who he really was — a man who’d made mistakes but never stopped loving his family. He didn’t walk away with immortality or power, but he got something better: peace, love, and a second chance to be the person he once was.