WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Sinners.Ryan Coogler’s horror blockbuster Sinners has blown away audiences with its action-packed vampire epic tale while leaving some with multiple questions about its characters and story. One of the biggest sources of mystery in 2025’s Sinners is the character Sammie (Miles Caton), a.k.a. “Preacher Boy,” Michael B. Jordan’s (in a dual role) Smoke and Stack’s young cousin who can play music that can pierce through time and space, calling forth spirits and attracting evil enтιтies.
With such a wild supernatural story, Coogler naturally left some things up for interpretation, particularly with Sinners‘s ambiguous post-credits scene. Such a scene has fueled a popular theory that Sammie sold his soul to the Devil to become a master musician. Though the theory is supported by a moment involving Sammie’s father Jedidiah (Saul Williams), there is another about the final scene depicting Sammie in the afterlife that seems even more likely. All this has kept audiences talking and making Sinners one of the most H๏τly-discussed movies of 2025.
Sammie Was Playing For The Devil In Sinners’ Final Credits Scene – Theory Explained
Sammie’s Music Seems To Have Summoned The Man Downstairs
Audiences have theorized that Sammie sold his soul to the Devil to become a talented musician based on a theory about a similar Mississippi-born musician. This Sinners theory is based on the legend of musician Robert Johnson, widely known as the King of Delta Blues. According to The Root, Johnson is said to have been a “decent” musician until he met the Devil at the “crossroads” and sold his soul, allowing him to become the legendary performer he is regarded as today.
Thus, people have proposed that Sammie followed the same path as Johnson at the end of Sinners, and this is seemingly supported by the film’s final post-credits scene. After playing “This Little Light of Mine” in the church, Sammie looks off-screen and seems to smile at someone. Since Sammie’s music has the power to conjure spirits and attract demons, it is possible that this performance summoned Satan himself, allowing the former to make the deal he needed to succeed as a musician, leading to his fame and fortune decades later.
Warnings From Sammie’s Father Fit With Sinners’ Devil Theory
The Film Seems To Foreshadow Sammie’s Deal With The Devil
The idea that Sammie made a deal with Satan to fulfill his musical dream is possibly foreshadowed by his father early in the film. Specifically, Sammie’s father warns him about the dangers of playing “sinful” music by saying: “If you keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.” Jedidiah’s warning comes to pᴀss later that day during Sammie’s magical blues performance at the juke joint, which catches the attention of the vampire Remmick (Jack O’Connell) and his gang.
However, Sammie’s mystical music could’ve also summoned the Devil himself, who literally followed the young musician home to the church. This is seemingly the case in the film’s last credits scene, which appears to show Sammie meeting someone after his playing his song in the church. If Sammie’s deal with the Devil did happen in Sinners, then it went down in his preacher father’s place of worship, making it Sammie’s ultimate act of defiance of his religious father.
What Miles Caton Has Said About Sinners’ Credits Scene
Caton Reveals The Truth Behind His Final Scene
While Sammie’s deal with the Devil is a popular theory about Sinners with some appearingly hard evidence, it may have been all but disproved by one of the film’s actors. Following the premiere of Sinners, Sammie actor Miles Caton spoke to GQ in an interview centered around his performance and key scenes in the film, which shines a little light on that ambiguous post-credits scene.
Another well-known theory about Sinners is that the post-credits scene actually shows Sammie playing his song in the afterlife.
Caton claims that Sinners‘ final scene was sH๏τ early in the film’s production, saying it was going to feature Sammie looking at his father after playing the song. Though Sammie’s father no longer appears in that scene in the final cut, knowing the truth behind it, the emotional context of Sammie’s behavior in this scene is changed. As a result, any theories about Sammie partaking in a Faustian bargain at the end of the film have been struck down.
Is Sinners’ Second Credits Scene Set In The Afterlife?
It Appears Sammie Is Playing At The Crossroads
Another well-known theory about Sinners is that the post-credits scene actually shows Sammie playing his song in the afterlife. This claim may be supported by the film’s mid-credits scene, which depicts Sammie as an elderly man, telling Stack that he is near death upon their reunion in the 1990s. It is possible that, after refusing Stack’s offer to become a vampire, Sammie met his expected demise shortly afterward. As a result, despite his sins in life, he got to do what he loved most in the afterlife: playing music.
Also, if Sammie is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ during the last scene of Sinners, instead of the Devil, he could’ve actually been performing for his father, only it was during their reunion in the afterlife. Though Sammie is still a young man in this post-credits scene, he could look like this because that is how old he was the last time he saw his father alive before leaving him.
Based on Sammie’s expression in the final sH๏τ, he seems to have finally reconciled with his father, making for a happy ending to a horrifying feature.
By performing for his father as a young man in the great Beyond, Sammie is symbolically continuing where he left things off with his father. Such a scene would give Sammie’s character some closure after leaving his father behind to pursue his dream of being a Blues musician. Based on Sammie’s expression in the final sH๏τ, he seems to have finally reconciled with his father, making for a happy ending to a horrifying feature.
In the end, like all great works of art, Sinners can be seen in many different ways. Sammie has been interpreted as the profiteer of a deal with the Devil, the kind of monster that tried to kill him and his loved ones at the juke joint. Such a bargain somewhat undermines his decision not to become a vampire. However, it is also likely that Sammie died and got to perform for his father after a long, hard life away from him. Whatever the truth may be, these theories are reflective of how compelling and thought-provoking Ryan Coogler’s latest masterpiece has become.
Source: The Root, GQ
