Actor Hudson Meek was 16 when he died on December 21, 2024, two days after falling from a moving vehicle near his home in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. He had already wrapped work on multiple projects he would never see released. Nearly 18 months later, audiences are still encountering him on screen — and the most prominent example is still to come.
On August 14, 2026, Warner Bros. will release “The End of Oak Street,” a science fiction survival film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”) and produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot banner. The film stars Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as the parents of a suburban family transported to an unknown location by a mysterious cosmic event. Meek plays a character named Kaden. He will appear in a major studio release — opposite two Oscar winners — more than 18 months after his death.
It is the most visible chapter yet in what has become an unexpected posthumous film career. Meek had already appeared on screen after his passing in “The School Duel,” a thriller that premiered at the 50th Deauville American Film Festival in September 2024 — just three months before he died — and took home the Canal+ 50th anniversary prize. His family’s obituary noted at the time of his death that additional projects were in the pipeline for 2025, though none beyond “The End of Oak Street” have been publicly identified.
Meek was best known during his lifetime for playing the childhood version of Ansel Elgort’s getaway driver in Edgar Wright’s Academy Award-nominated 2017 action film “Baby Driver” — a role he landed at age eight. His other credits included “90 Minutes in Heaven,” NBC’s “Found,” The CW’s “Legacies,” “MacGyver” and the 2024 series “Genius,” along with voice work as the lead character Bada in the children’s programs “Badanamu Cadets” and “Badanamu Stories.”
His final red carpet appearance came on September 9, 2024, at Deauville, where he walked the premiere of “A Different Man” alongside his “School Duel” castmates. He died three months later.
“The End of Oak Street” opens August 14. Meek is listed in the cast.
