Emily Brontë’s well-loved gothic tragedy, Wuthering Heights, is being adapted once more for the big screen.
Emerald Fennell, the visionary behind the Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman, as well as mammoth hit Saltburn, will direct the new feature-length production.
Fennell will once again be working alongside Margot Robbie’s production company, LuckyChap, having collaborated with them on her last two films.
But while we’re all more than familiar with the well-trodden tale between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, what can we expect from Fennell’s interpretation on this classic novel?
Here’s everything we know about the new Wuthering Heights film…
Who has been cast in Wuthering Heights?
It has been announced that Margot Robbie will star as the wilful and wild Catherine Earnshaw, while Euphoria and Saltburn star Jacob Elordi will be the vengeful and unsettling Heathcliff. Elordi's casting has proved particularly controversial.
There have been several interpretations of Heathcliff’s racial and ethnic background over the years, with many believing that he comes from Romani, African, or South Asian origins. While Brontë doesn’t specify his race, she clues readers into his racial ambiguity by describing him as “dark-skinned” and revealing that he was found as a child in Liverpool, which would have operated as a major port for Britain’s transatlantic slave trade during that time period.
Racial ambiguity is integral to Heathcliff’s storyline. Other characters mistreat him on the basis of this ambiguity, subjecting him to the abuse typically reserved for servants and dehumanising him by referring to his character as “it” or as the property of his adopted father. Ultimately, Heathcliff’s passionate love for Catherine is undermined due to the low social status his uncertain background bestows upon him. With many textual cues pointing to Heathcliff being a non-white character, it comes as no surprise that Brontë purists were up in arms over the casting of Elordi, who is white.
Paparazzi photos from the set continue to show that major details have been changed from the original work. Faithful fans were quick to point out physical discrepancies between Robbie’s onscreen portrayal and Catherine’s depiction in the book: Robbie was seen with her signature blonde hair while the novel describes her character as having dark-brown tresses. Others accused the adaptation of favoring aesthetics over historical accuracy due to the anachronistic style of Catherine’s wedding dress. White wedding dresses, for instance, were not commonly worn until the Victorian era, which doesn’t occur until decades after the events in the novel. Besides the hue of the dress, critics also took issue with the design, deriding the inclusion of glitter—which wasn’t invented until 1934—as the so-called Bridgerton effect.
What will Wuthering Heights be about?
The casting choices have suggested Fennell will put her own spin on the classic story, but it’s unlikely Wuthering Heights will deviate too greatly from the plot of the book.
Brontë’s classic novel could be described as an intense love story; set in the Yorkshire moors, it follows the life of Heathcliff, a mysterious figure who is adopted by the rich gentleman farmer, Mr Earnshaw. Heathcliff is to be brought up alongside Earnshaw’s own two children, Hindley and Catherine. While Catherine grows extremely close to Heathcliffe, Hindley cannot stand him, and grows bitter when his father chooses to keep Heathcliff at home and send him off to college.
After Earnshaw dies and a now-married Hindley returns, he degrades Heathcliff, and treats him like a servant. When he then overhears Catherine saying she could not marry Heathcliff, and instead chooses to wed neighbour Edgar Linton, Heathcliff flees. After inheriting substantial wealth of his own, Heathcliff returns – and exacts revenge on the two families he believes ruined his life.
Is there a trailer for Wuthering Heights?
While we're still a little while off from seeing any footage from the upcoming film, a first-look image has been released.
In it, we can see Elordi's fingers placed in Robbie's mouth while in a field - suggesting a much more erotic imagining of Brontës's work.
Fennell also gave a tease of what we can look forward to by releasing artwork promoting Wuthering Heights.
Showing an intricate design of a skeleton, the image then contains the quote: “Be with me always, take any form, drive me mad” – a quote directly from Heathcliff, who cries this out upon learning of Catherine’s death.
The image certainly suggests we’re looking at another gothic rendition of the classic tale.
Does Wuthering Heights have a release date?
As it stands, the film is currently in pre-production and gearing up for a shoot in the UK in early 2025.
Warner Bros. have now slated Wuthering Heights for a 2026 release, with the film to hit the big screen for a Valentine's Day release.
The film studios confirmed to Variety that the new iteration of the classic novel will be released on 13 February 2026.
