What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedMortal Engines
Christian Rivers · Film · 2018
If you loved Mortal Engines, start with Scrivener's Moon (Philip Reeve, 2011) — a book on the same thread. Below: 1 book, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Mortal Engines across media.
What hooked you in Mortal Engines was the way massive, decaying landscapes serve as the backdrop for desperate struggles for survival.
Books on the same thread
Scrivener's Moon
Philip Reeve · Book · 2011
Shares 2 threads with Mortal Engines: Rebellion, Steampunk.
If the mechanical scale of Mortal Engines fascinated you, this prequel offers a deeper look at the mad science and mobile city designs that built that dangerous, resource-scarce world.
Series on the same thread
Arcane
Christian Linke · Series · 2021
Shares a thread with Mortal Engines: Class Warfare.
Just as Mortal Engines explores the friction between clashing societies, this series captures the tension of twin cities divided by technological decay and the moral ambiguity of survival.
Love, Death & Robots
Tim Miller · Series · 2019
Shares a thread with Mortal Engines: Dystopian Fiction.
Fans of the high-concept world-building in Mortal Engines will appreciate how these stories use dark, animated vignettes to explore the existential consequences of advanced technology and human desperation.
The Walking Dead: Dead City
Series · 2023
Explores: Reluctant Alliance, Urban Decay, Moral Ambiguity.
The desolate urban decay found in Mortal Engines finds a gritty parallel here, focusing on how individuals navigate a crumbling, post-apocalyptic landscape defined by constant danger and scarcity.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Rafał Jaki · Series · 2022
Explores: Cybernetic augmentation, Dystopian society, Mercenary life.
The reckless struggle against a corrupt, tech-heavy society in Mortal Engines is mirrored in this story of a mercenary fighting to survive within a harsh, unforgiving urban dystopia.
Podcasts on the same thread
Search Engine
PJ Vogt · Podcast · 2026
Explores: curiosity, societal analysis, human interest.
While Mortal Engines reimagines our world's future, this podcast feeds your curiosity by dissecting the complex systems and societal questions that shape our own reality in the present day.
The Orphans
The Light and Tragic Company · Podcast · 2025
This audio drama echoes the survivalist intensity of Mortal Engines, placing characters in a hostile, far-flung future where they must overcome isolation and A.I. threats to stay alive.
Keep exploring
Common questions
What is the premise of Mortal Engines?
Mortal Engines is set thousands of years in the future where massive cities roam the globe on wheels. These cities consume one another to secure diminishing resources while a man named Tom Natsworthy encounters a woman from the wastelands who alters his life.
Who directed the Mortal Engines movie?
The 2018 film Mortal Engines was directed by Christian Rivers. The story follows the struggle for resources as traction cities traverse the earth and a chance meeting between Tom Natsworthy and a mysterious woman from the wastelands changes the course of his future.
Is Mortal Engines set in the past or future?
Mortal Engines takes place many thousands of years in the future. In this era, the world is defined by mobile traction cities that roam the globe and devour each other to obtain limited resources, creating the backdrop for Tom Natsworthy's journey.
What is the main conflict in Mortal Engines?
The primary conflict in Mortal Engines involves mobile cities devouring each other to survive as resources become increasingly scarce. This struggle serves as the setting for Tom Natsworthy to meet a mysterious woman from the wastelands who changes his life forever.