Actress Hera Hilmar has been cast as Hester Shaw, the female lead of the Mortal Engines film.

Congratulations must go Hera for landing the biggest role of her career!

While Hilmar is a relative unknown she has a strong record, appearing as a part of the supporting cast in many films, notably Anna Karenina with Keria Knightly and the Icelandic film Life in a Fishbowl.

Hera's full name is Hera Hilmarsdóttir and she can be found on Instagram.

We wonder what her character of Hester Shaw is going to look like. In Philip Reeve's novel Hester is a disfigured teenage and that play son her character's psyche.

Thaddeus Valentine stuck her with his sword and it cut through her eye and down her face leaving her blind in the eye and with a grotesque scar that went through past her mouth. It's be imagined as looking a little like this:

Will director Christian Rivers have a character like that on the silver screen? Time will tell...

Hester is a fan favourite of the book readers and we suspect will be come quite the cosplay target!