ANONNNNN! I LOVE WHERE YOU'RE GOING WITH THIS!

I don't know how well-known the Epilogue is, either, but I'm always crossing my fingers to see the Skellington children someday. But if Megan integrated Santa Claus' line like that - putting Jack Skellington in a situation where he could do the Christmas thing all over again with what he knew now - I'd love to see it!! What he would fix and what he wouldn't...

I really am intrigued how 'time' is going to be woven in the story and what will happen. I'm obviously on the edge of my seat hoping to see Jack and Sally starting a family, but we can only wait..! Rrgh!

I saw a lot of Sally-centered hate back in the day from someone on deviantART, who argued that she "isn't PROVED to be the mother of the 4-5 skeleton kids". Since her name wasn't stated outright, it's usually been considered a 'possibility', even though the Epilogue was supposed to (or I assume) play right after Jack & Sally's kiss, where we can easily surmise that she's the mother...being Jack's canonical love interest and all...

LLTPQ mentioning what it did showed us that Sally is interested in having children with Jack. So we can assume it might've been her idea, and now that they're happily married, they are certainly her own... :)

Happy father's day to Jack Skellington and his 4 or 5 skeleton children today :)

Every day, I thank Danny Elfman for filling my little goth heart to bits by giving Jack and Sally 4 or 5 skeleton children in the Nightmare Before Christmas Epilogue. <3

ANON! I can't thank you enough for telling me about this - I saw some Ken Page & Chris Sarandon events recently, but didn't look into them since I was away at the time. (The question is asked at 12:35)

I think this was a *really* funny question to ask to begin with - since Danny Elfman was the one who wrote the Epilogue. I didn't think they had an answer but the one they gave was PRICELESS. This is HILARIOUS ;;

"MAGIC."

I hope they weren't too uncomfortable with the question btw? Everyone seems to want to know how Jack and Sally had the skeleton kids. But it's probably not the most comfortable to answer in public, I imagine, so I hope they were fine with it? I think in another Interview somewhere Chris stated that he sees Jack as Asexual, so I wonder if that contributed for their answer? :)

Hello, anon! This is such an intriguing question!

There are different ‘theories’ as to how Jack & Sally have the Skeleton children. If they’re born, aging for them could be their bones growing in the skeletal sense. On the other hand, if Doctor Finklestein assembled them, I could see him periodically replacing their bones/parts as they grow to help the process, while their brains mature. In the end they could be immortal/long-lived beings like Jack & Sally! (This process could take awhile, as you said!)

It might be a long time before any of them would be old enough for the throne. I think the eldest of their children could grow up to be the next Pumpkin King/Queen. I see the role depending more on their maturity / preparation for the crown. I like to think Jack Skellington is happy to pass the title onto his child, as Sally is to see them to grow to rule Halloween Town. So it all relies on when they're deemed ready.

Since they have so many children...the rest may remain as Pumpkin Princes/Princesses. But that title is *still* royalty!...This makes me curious as to how Halloween Town’s monarchy(?) works, what process(es) there are to becoming the next Pumpkin King/Queen, and how Jack & Sally will determine which child will be next in line. I wonder how much power a Pumpkin prince/princess has...?

Trying to find any behind-the-scenes info on the Epilogue be like

NO BECAUSE THIS ALWAYS FRUSTRATED ME...

When I started on my TNBC fixation years ago, I searched long and hard trying to find any behind-the-scenes commentary about the Closing/Epilogue. And much like you, I’ve *never* been able to find anything, even to this day. I have no idea why it’s never been talked about - it’s always in those “fun fact” articles and videos about Nightmare, so you’d think the crew would talk about it after these 25+ years.

I have little knowledge on the Closing’s background. What I know is that Danny Elfman wrote it, it existed in Caroline Thompson’s First Draft dated back in 1991, and that Patrick Stewart narrated it in the Soundtrack(I believe?). I don’t have an exact answer as to why it was removed/unused, what Jack and Sally’s 4 or 5 skeleton children looked like(or why they say ‘4 or 5′ to begin with), and why it was ever written in the first place.

If I were to ask the crew any one question about TNBC, I’ve always wanted it to be about the Epilogue. I particularly want to know Danny Elfman’s reasons for writing it and what happened with it, or if Caroline Thompson was involved or inspired the material at all. If there’s any concept art or storyboards out there of this scene -- if Danny, Caroline, or even Henry Selick/Tim Burton can imagine what Jack and Sally’s children look like.

I’m shocked it’s never occurred to anyone to ask them about these things. It pretty much just feels like a hidden trivia about TNBC at this point, that you can find in the Soundtrack. I hope someday we’ll be able to find further information about it out there, somewhere.

Hello! And yes, there are theories I’ve heard before! One of my favorites has to be from a previous anon who speculates that Sally may have just been pregnant with their fifth child, hence Santa Claus seeing the baby bump and saying “4 or 5″. Another anon shared with me their theory on Jack and Sally having conjoined twins, hence the ”4 or 5″ number!

I’m sure there are more fan theories out there, but those two come to the top of my mind. I’ve even seen fan designs of conjoined twins, and there are fanart pieces out there with a pregnant!Sally.

Personally, I’ve never known what to make of the “4 or 5 skeleton children” part of the Closing/Epilogue. I’ve joked before Santa having poor eyesight or being too far to properly see...but one of the anons brought up a good point that he’d have a knack with keeping track and counting children. Especially if he and Jack got close enough to further talk about the old Christmas fiasco.

I can only assume it has something to do with the pacing/timing/etc. of the poem itself, rather than the context. We’ll never know until Danny Elfman says something about it in the future, possibly.

Somethin’ I’m Curious About

So, any well-knowledged Nightmare Before Christmas fan knows all about Jack Skellington’s kids. And if you haven’t, well, it was in the Epilogue/Closing in the Sound Track, where it states:

...And why do I want to talk about this today? Well, because there’s so little known here. I have a lot of headcanons surrounding this, but it seems so...unpopular in the fandom.

A lot of Jack and Sally fanchildren that I’ve seen usually don’t have these musical characteristics that the Closing implies. And what’s especially interesting here is that they’re part of, as stated, an “xylophone band” - which means they’re musically gifted. And if we know anything about Disney movies, it’s very likely that they’re also singers.

But what I also like to think about is where they picked this up from. Jack and Sally’s kids could’ve been a lot of things, more than likely something scary or Halloween-like. But, no, it was officially written(and tragically left unused) that they’re part of their own little band. Seeing as it’s described they play “strange little tunes”, it’s likely their songs are Halloweentown-esque or...creepy. Which totally makes sense!

And from what I know, both Jack and Sally are musically inclined, and sing a lot. It’s likely their kids picked up on their parent’s love for music and started their own band. How they learned to play the instruments can be up to you - either Jack/Sally taught them, or they picked up a few things or two from the Halloween Town Band. ;)

Basically, my point here is that it’s an interesting fact that Jack and Sally’s children are apart of a band and know how to play instruments. I’ve yet to see from the fandom 4 or 5 Skellington children be apart of this aforementioned band. There’s a lot you could work with here - what they would name their band, what type of songs they’d play, if they sing, how Jack and Sally support/involve them, who’d play which instrument, etc. etc. etc.

Overall, I really hope the fandom takes the Closing more into consideration and I can see more skeleton kids with xylophones and instruments and rocking out at 5 A.M. while Jack is desperately trying to fill out paperwork in silence.