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. Nearly 18 months later, he will appear in his final major studio role when Warner Bros. releases “The End of Oak Street” on August 14, 2026.
The science fiction survival film, written and directed by David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”) and produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot banner, stars Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as parents of a suburban family transported to an unknown location by a mysterious cosmic event. Meek plays a character named Kaden, appearing opposite two popular actors in what has become an unexpected posthumous film career.
Principal photography ran from March 22 to June 4, 2024, shooting on location in London, Atlanta, and New Orleans. Meek died seven months after production wrapped. The incident that led to his death occurred between Shades Crest Road and Highway 31, behind a Publix grocery store on Canyon Road.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ the death was being treated as an accident, with no signs that drugs or alcohol were involved. The Vestavia Hills Police Department continued investigating but issued no public statement with findings — the circumstances of exactly how he came to fall from the vehicle were never officially explained. He was surrounded by friends and family when he died, and his family noted he was an organ donor.
His appearance in “The End of Oak Street” is a live performance, not a digital reconstruction, making the August 14 release a genuine farewell from an actor who had no idea it would be his last major role when he stepped in front of the camera.
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 and took home the Canal+ 50th anniversary prize. 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. What audiences will see in both films is entirely the work of a teenager who was still building his career — not a tribute manufactured after the fact, but the real thing, caught on camera while he still had everything ahead of him.
During his lifetime, Meek was best known 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 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.
“The End of Oak Street” opens August 14, 2026. Meek is listed in the cast.
