Mortal Engines looks bonkers, man, and the more I see of producer/writer Peter Jackson and director Christian Rivers' post-apocalyptic city-on-wheels world the more I want to know. (What are the logistics of steering the entirety of London? How did Earth end up this way? What's Hugo Weaving all mad about?) Luckily, Universal dropped a new featurette that delves deeper into the film's main character, Hester Shaw, played by Icelandic actress Hera Hilmar (The Romanoffs).

Shaw is an outcast and an orphan, hell-bent on killing Weaving's Thaddeus Valentine. "She's this mysterious, feral badass," Hilmar says. "She’d like to live in a world with one less person in it."

Jackson adds that the story of Mortal Engines—which is based on the book series by Philip Reeve—eventually becomes much "bigger than her revenge."

Check out the featurette and poster below. Mortal Engines—which also stars Stephen Lang, Robert Sheehan, Colin Salmon, and Caren Pistorius—hits theaters on December 14.

mortal-engines-interview-hera-hilmar
Image via Universal Studios

Here's the full synopsis for Mortal Engines:

Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved.  Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns.  Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar).  Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future.

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Mortal Engines is the startling, new epic adventure directed by Oscar®-winning visual-effects artist Christian Rivers (King Kong).  Joining Rivers are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies three-time Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who have penned the screenplay.  The Universal and MRC adaptation is from the award-winning book series by Philip Reeve, published in 2001 by Scholastic.