WATCH: ‘Sinners’ Star Wunmi Mosaku On Starring In The Country’s Top Film – Essence

“I hope the people love these characters as much as we love these characters.”

In Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying thriller, Wunmi Mosaku delivers a layered and emotionally resonant performance as Annie—a spiritual guide, healer, and pillar of a Jim Crow-era Southern community grappling with a rising, mysterious evil. In conversation with ESSENCE, she described Annie as someone deeply connected to both land and legacy.

Mosaku’s admiration for the film began from the very first pages of the script. “I’ve never read a script where I cared for every single character,” she shared. The same emotion translated on screen, as the film shattered box office expectations with a $61M opening weekend and continues to stir conversation online.

The BAFTA-nominated actress also praised Coogler’s vision, saying that “his artistry is so profound and necessary,” and credited his intentional direction with shaping the film’s soul. The blues soundtrack, centered around the musical talent of Preacher Boy (played by Miles Caton), became “the heartbeat of the story”—a symbol of love, torment, and identity.

Shot in immersive formats and rich with powerful messaging, Sinners is more than a horror film. It’s a community tale, a spiritual reckoning, and, as Mosaku says, “a piece of culture.”

ESSENCE: I don’t think we’ve ever been invested with a film quite like we are with Sinners, and I’m just excited for the world to finally be able to see the film.

Wunmi Mosaku: Thank you so much! Good to see you again.

Likewise. Your character, Annie, she’s described as a spiritual leader and a healer. Can you talk about the role that she plays in the Sinners community? 

She is a spiritualist, conjure woman, and a healer. She is a pillar and center in the community. She owns a little shop with roots, herbs, and she also cooks. She is Smoke’s other half. She is a part of him in a way that she’s his healer and his sanctuary, his place of vulnerability and openness. He can’t hide from her. Neither can she hide from him. She’s a mother and she’s someone who is deeply rooted in her traditions. She’s connected to the motherland, and she’s connected to the spiritual world—she’s a very powerful person. 

Sinners has a very unique storyline and plot. What drew you to this film?

I mean, first and foremost, Ryan Coogler is someone who I deeply respect and I’m inspired by. I just think his artistry is so profound and necessary and he’s a beacon and a keeper of Pan-African culture. I mean, he’s a keeper of the culture and he likes spotlights us and ours. I feel like the first seven pages I read were some of the most beautiful writing I had ever seen. The scene between Annie and Smoke. That’s all I had when I had my first meeting with him, and I just felt this love for the two of them. 

I had never read something that was so perfectly written where you understand their history, their grief, their love, their hopes, their fears, their whys and their why nots, and I wanted to be a part of that from the moment I read that. I was inspired by him at that meeting. He’s so thoughtful, he’s so intelligent and so eloquent, and he sees things in a way that I need. I need his eye for me to see it too. In everything that he’s done, I’ve been so grateful for his perspective and his wisdom taught me something for myself, for my hopes for the future.

ESSENCE was able to see an early cut of the film. As it was edited to what the world will see, you now have a heightened role in what the finished product is now. How much does that excite you and what do you hope audiences will take from your performance in the film? 

I just feel so honored to be in this movie and to have the arc that my character does. She’s an integral part of their understanding and their fight. I hope that people love these characters as much as we love these characters. When I finished reading the script, I thought to myself, I have never, and I actually said it to my agent, “I’ve never read a script where I love and care for every single character that’s written on the page.” Whether it’s the young girl outside the store at the beginning, keeping an eye on the truck. I love her. I feel like I love that scene. I love the teaching of the community. Everyone is written so well, and I hope that every person who watches this film loves each of these characters and feels for each of these characters in the same way that we do. 

You spoke about Smoke earlier, but I actually want to talk about Stack Now. What was it like acting alongside Stack and Smoke?

Honestly, Michael Michael’s work was so detailed that it was so clear who he was. Even in rehearsal, his energy was different. When he came onto a set when he was Smoke, I felt like we gravitated towards each other. I feel like, especially in the emotional scenes, I was always kind of by his side or behind him as support. And when he was Stuck, he’d be doing his thing and I would be like, “oh, that’s Stack.” There was just such an energy shift with him that was so apparent. I could tell with my back turned if he was Smoke or Stack—I could tell so clearly. And other than the technicalities of the actual filming, doing the scenes a certain way, it was actually pretty easy. It was easy because they were so different.

How big of a role do you think the music and the Blues aspect played in the film for you? 

The music is the heartbeat. I think Sammie is the heartbeat—his love, his passion, his actual voice, his journey to the blues, his fight against his family, his discovery of himself as an artist. I think of the Blues and Sammie kind of being entwined, and that it’s a journey of torment and love. I think the blues is absolutely integral to the movie. 

So, one thing I thought was really interesting when I was doing research prior to this conversation is that Ryan [Coogler] called this film a “comfort food” movie. It’s something that he thinks is personal and exciting for him as a movie goer because he’s a director, but of course I know he’s a fan of cinema as well. How do you think that energy translated on set for you? 

I mean, it was amazing. Ryan has such love and respect for movie making and movie makers, but he would always say, “we’re making a major motion picture.” He’d say every day, maybe three times “guys we’re making a major motion picture.” And it seems obvious, but actually when he says it like that, you’re like, “wow, we are really doing this. We’re really creating something together.” And so there was always a reverence from everyone surrounding Ryan, and for the work that he puts out into the world. The feeling was always respect and enjoyment and understanding that we’re making a piece of culture.