Emma Watson to star in film adaptation of Dave Eggers' tech company dystopia The Circle

The actress will appear in the movie alongside Tom Hanks

Emma Watson will host a live Q&A on gender equality for International Women's Day (Getty Images)

She’s played a Muggle-born witch, a Biblical daughter and an angst-ridden teenager - and now Emma Watson will take on her next role as a beleaguered employee of a US technology giant.

Watson will star alongside Tom Hanks in the film adaptation of Dave Eggers' dystopian novel The Circle, which imagines a world where one leading technology company (think Google or Facebook) strives to rule the planet by invading people’s privacy.

Watson will play Mae Holland, a recent graduate who secures a job at The Circle, which offers employees dorm-like housing, a gym and regular campus parties, while also insisting they interact over 100 times a day on social media and share personal details about themselves and their families with the rest of the world.

Tom Hanks is due to star as one of The Circle's founding fathers (Getty Images)

Mae struggles to keep up with the demands of The Circle, but later becomes one of the company’s favourite employees after agreeing to surrender her privacy to be a guinea pig in a global social experiment.

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She is forced to question her role in the company’s quest for world domination when she meets a dark, mysterious employee lurking around campus who is cynical about The Circle’s motives.

Hanks is expected to star as one of the company’s three owners, the so-called “Three Wise Men”.

The role will be Watson’s fifth major part since the Harry Potter franchise ended in 2011. She has since starred in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Bling Ring, This is the End, and Noah.

Filming on The Circle will begin in September, with a release date scheduled for 2016.