Last Meals gets second helpings: Tessa Thompson and Michael Shannon join Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook

If you were looking for another reason to keep an eye on Last Meals, here it is: Tessa Thompson and Michael Shannon have just signed on for Ramin Bahrani's latest drama, joining a line-up that already counts Mads Mikkelsen and Boyd Holbrook. Yes, that’s Ramin Bahrani of The White Tiger and 99 Homes fame – one of those directors who seems allergic to making boring films.

Who’s Playing Who?

Let’s break down the cast. At the heart of Last Meals is Mikkelsen, set to play Walter Karat, a chef whose life goes from serving at the White House to dishing up meals for death row inmates in a maximum security prison. Not exactly the usual career progression, but it’s certainly more interesting than another kitchen drama.

Boyd Holbrook is stepping in as Reed, an inmate on death row who’s not interested in Walter’s food – or his attention. Walter, being who he is, can’t leave well enough alone, and before you know it, there’s a deeper connection sparking between them. What starts out as a battle of wills takes a sharp turn once Walter gets it into his head that Reed might actually be innocent – cue all the moral dilemmas and downward spirals you’d expect from this sort of story.

Thompson joins the cast as Hannah, 'an ambitious local food critic' who finds herself tangled up in Walter’s journey. Shannon, on the other hand, is taking on Governor George Callahan, billed as 'a consequential figure in the political and clemency battle at the film’s center.'

It’s all shaping up to be a bit of a pressure cooker—pardon the pun—with Hannah, Walter, and Reed drawn together in an escalating tangle of guilt, second chances, justice, and what passes for truth in a prison kitchen. Apparently, once this whole mess hits the airwaves (with the backdrop of a brewing presidential campaign, no less), Walter is faced with a proper fork-in-the-road moment: does he chase glory, or does he torch his career for something resembling a moral cause?

The Folks Behind the Camera

Running point on this is Renée Tab, whose producing CV boasts projects like Dead Ringers and Feud: Bette and Joan. She’s bringing Bahrani’s take on Justin Piasecki’s Academy Nicholl Award-winning script to the screen, and she couldn’t sound more delighted about the casting shake-up.

Producer Renée Tab said, 'We are thrilled to welcome Tessa Thompson and Michael Shannon to Last Meals, joining Mads Mikkelsen and Boyd Holbrook in this extraordinary ensemble. It is an honor to work with artists of this caliber and to bring Ramin Bahrani’s vision of Justin Piasecki’s Academy Nicholl Award-winning screenplay to the screen.'

If you’re spotting a pattern, Shannon and Bahrani already have history — the pair worked together on 99 Homes and HBO’s Fahrenheit 451, and Shannon’s also in Bahrani’s post-production project Vegas: A Love Story. Everyone keeps shuffling between these same few prestige dramas, but given the talent on hand, it’s not exactly a complaint.

• Mads Mikkelsen: Walter Karat, a former White House chef now stuck in a prison kitchen
• Boyd Holbrook: Reed, an inmate who may (or may not) be innocent
• Tessa Thompson: Hannah, a food critic pulled into the drama
• Michael Shannon: Governor George Callahan, in the thick of the film’s political stakes