Summary
- The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack's cut epilogue reveals that Jack and Sally have "four or five" skeleton children who form a xylophone band.
- The film's ending is hopeful and forward-looking, while the cut epilogue provides a more reflective and bittersweet tone.
- The 2022 Disney novel Long Live the Pumpkin Queen confirms that Sally and Jack were married and that Sally discovers her real ragdoll parents, concluding with the couple happily settled in Halloween Town.
A cut epilogue from desire for The Nightmare Before Christmas 2, with Sally and Jack's fates after the closing credits being frequent sources of speculation.
The Nightmare Before Christmas ends with The Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, letting go of his Christmas dreams as he embarks on new adventures in Halloween Town. With Sally's help and guidance, Jack defeats the villainous Oogie Boogie, apologizes to Santa Claus (who still manages to save Christmas), and sees snowfall for the first time in Halloween Town. In the film's final moments, Jack and Sally declare their love for one another through song, marking the beginning of their future together. Despite the fact that a sequel has yet to be produced, what happens to Jack and Sally after the movie has actually been revealed by an additional song on The Nightmare Before Christmas' soundtrack album.
Jack & Sally Had Several Skeleton Children After The Nightmare Before Christmas
While cut from the movie itself, "Closing," the penultimate track on The Nightmare Before Christmas' album, is narrated by Patrick Stewart and details how his unseen character re-visits Jack and Sally many years later. The song reveals that after the movie ends, Sally and Jack have “four or five” skeleton children who play in a xylophone band. The Narrator asks Jack whether he re the night when he almost destroyed Christmas and if he would relive those events given what he knows now. Jack replies coyly, "Wouldn’t you?" Rest assured, Jack and Sally remain together and begin a family after that fateful Christmas night.
Aside from the obvious question (how a Frankenstein's monster-type creature and a literal skeleton reproduce), it still remains curious as to why Selick and his team didn’t use Stewart's epilogue narration in the final film. As it stands, The Nightmare Before Christmas' ending is very hopeful and forward-looking, with Jack and Sally finally getting together, while the cut epilogue is more reflective and bittersweet. This likely played into their creative decision to cut the closing narration, though – in gaining a more forward-facing ending – The Nightmare Before Christmas ultimately loses the cyclical structure utilized in many great holiday stories.
The epilogue references the beginning of the story, bringing The Nightmare Before Christmas full circle as Jack warmly reflects on the film's events in hindsight. Ultimately, the ambiguous ending still adds to the film's popularity and desire for more chapters in Jack and Sally's story 30 years later. That said, the movie is hardly underrated – a good thing, given how much time and effort went into making The Nightmare Before Christmas – so the romantic ending certainly paid off for audiences. Even without the knowledge of what happens to Jack and Sally after the closing scene, The Nightmare Before Christmas' conclusion invites viewers to look to the future ahead with a hopeful eye.
Sally Visits More Holiday Worlds As The Pumpkin Queen In Her Sequel Book
More details about what happened to Sally and Jack after The Nightmare Before Christmas were revealed in the 2022 Disney novel Long Live the Pumpkin Queen. The book confirms that Sally and Jack were married after the events of the movie, though Sally still began to feel somewhat trapped in her role as the Queen of Halloween Town. Occurring only one year after the movie's events and many years before the film soundtrack's epilogue song, Catherine O'Hara's The Nightmare Before Christmas character happens upon a hidden holiday doorway with Zero to Dream Town.
Sally ends up in a battle with the realm's Sandman, which leads to her finding her real ragdoll parents, Greta and Albert, who reveal that the villainous Dr. Finkelstein stole her from them when she was 12 years old. At the end of the book, Sally reunites with Jack and returns to Halloween Town, at which time Jack punishes Dr. Finkelstein for his actions. Sally and Jack conclude the novel still happily married and continuing to settle into their roles in Halloween Town, which The Nightmare Before Christmas epilogue song reveals will lead to a family of skeleton children.
