Stephen Lang and More Join Peter Jackson's MORTAL ENGINES

Art by Christian Bravery

The Peter Jackson-produced adaptation of Mortal Engines, the four book YA series by Philip Reeve, has just moved a little closer to production by casting Stephen Lang, Jihae, and Leila George to join the film alongside the previously cast star, Robert Sheehan.

Christian Rivers is directing the film and has so far filled the cast with relative unknowns. (Lang excepted, of course. He is basically the opposite of an unknown. He is a Hey! It’s That Guy.) Jihae is a Korean singer and actress who was in the National Geographic project Mars, and George has only been seen in the vampiric remake of the classic Lifetime movie Mother, May I sleep With Danger?

The book series is set “in a future world devastated ecologically and technologically and where certain cities including London are run by engines and move about the Earth, giving them the ability to prey on other smaller towns for resources. The story centers on a teen named Tom Natsworthy who, along with a young woman from a territory known as the Outlands, uncovers a mystery that could change the world order.”

Sheehan, who was one of my favorite parts of Misfits, will play Natsworthy, while Lang’s role is a secret. I would guess that he is playing some sort of badass authority figure, though. George’s character is Katharine Valentine, “the daughter of one of the most powerful men in London society and one who is trying to get his hands on a weapon of mass destruction.” Jihae will be Anna Fang, “a member of the violent league that fights against the mobile cities.”

This project sounds like it could be great or like it could be just another forgettable teen dystopia. I’m hoping it’s the former.