In 2017, Brake appeared as Medved in Bitter Harvest and as Tarasov in The Death of Stalin, both films focused on Soviet revolutionary and dictator Joseph Stalin. While the former was panned by critics, the latter received widespread praise. Brake had a recurring role on the crime thriller series Absentia as Conrad Harlow, a wealthy banker who is released from prison after Emily Byrne, the FBI agent who was hunting him down for the murders of several other women, is found alive. He is to star as tattoo Artist Bob Reid in the psychological horror-thriller Perfect Skin, and will co-star with Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough in the crime film Mandy. Brake will appear in a film adaptation of the Patrick deWitt novel The Sisters Brothers, which will star Jake Gyllenhaal and Joaquin Phoenix.