Why We’re Worried About Margot Robbie’s Wuthering Heights Movie

Book adaptations are nothing new in Hollywood, particularly where classic literature is concerned. Films like “Pride & Prejudice” have become staples for generations, with Mr. Darcy’s hand flex something that still resonates with audiences today. “Wuthering Heights,” the book by Emily Brontë, has had plenty of adaptations over the years, but another is set to debut right before Valentine’s Day in 2026.

Writer and director Emerald Fennell is the mind behind the latest attempt, known for her work on “Promising Young Woman” and “Saltburn.” She’s joined by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, who play main characters Catherine and Heathcliff, respectively. From the start, audiences have been concerned about what to expect from the film. The casting leaves something to be desired for many, and the trailer only gave people more to talk about.

Of course, there are always changes made in the transition from page to screen, even when the book being adapted is widely considered to be a classic (for example, 2019’s “Little Women” is different to the book in several ways). That being said, the tale of “Wuthering Heights” is extremely well known, so Fennell will have her work cut out if she wants to make her mark while remaining true to the source material. This is just one of the many reasons we’re worried about Margot Robbie’s “Wuthering Heights” movie.

Some began to worry about the latest “Wuthering Heights” movie when it was revealed that Jacob Elordi would co-star as Heathcliff. The actor worked with Emerald Fennell previously on “Saltburn” (one of Elordi’s best movie roles to date), so his inclusion on the surface isn’t questionable. What is concerning is that Heathcliff is a character of color, notably described as “darker-skinned” in the text, with implications that he may have been Romani. While his exact skin color is not explicitly stated, Brontë’s use of the words “darker-skinned” has led many over the years to infer that Heathcliff was not white.

While it isn’t the first time a white man has taken on the role of Heathcliff in the 21st century (Tom Hardy notably played him in the critically acclaimed 2009 miniseries), it does erase the ambiguity of the character, which in turn alters the context of Heathcliff’s abuse and social standing. Fennell commented on the backlash to the casting when speaking to Deadline in September 2025. The director said that she wanted to make the “Wuthering Heights” she “experienced when [she] was 14” and that Elordi “looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff” that was included in the copy of the book she read as a teenager.

After the trailer dropped, classic literature fans began to speculate that Emerald Fennell was applying the sexual shock value of “Saltburn” to “Wuthering Heights,” and many weren’t happy about it. The trailer makes it clear that the film is a lot more sexually charged than previous adaptations, flashing glimpses of Heathcliff sucking on Catherine’s fingers and someone chained at the neck, crawling on the floor with their tongue out in a suggestive manner, among other things.

Fans of the book are concerned that Fennell’s adaptation is relying on the sexual overtones that have become popular in communities like BookTok, which has a significant following and has helped revitalize bookstores nationwide. Reddit user u/A_b_b_o posted about the trailer in the classic literature subreddit, calling it “a smutty, almost Tik-Tok book-looking trailer,” with others agreeing in the comments. Some are saying that if Fennell wanted to explore eroticism, there are plenty of other books to do that with.

It’s not all backlash: There are some who have noted that there are ways to interpret eroticism from the original text. Even so, it seems that the majority of Brontë fans remain concerned that Fennell is not right for a “Wuthering Heights” adaptation. “I find her sexual imagery and themes come off the same way a young teenager does when they’re trying to prove their sexual awareness through being overly provocative,” wrote u/followmyback. “Gives me a headache.”

Since “Wuthering Heights” has a track record of varying quality when it comes to adaptations, it immediately draws worry when another one is in the works. The novel has been difficult to adapt in the past, with dozens of films and TV series dating all the way back to 1920 trying to capture the complicated dynamics and the atmosphere of the Yorkshire Moors. In 2023, Isis magazine conducted a case study into why the property is seemingly cursed to fail on the screen. It stated: “The first challenge is – how to keep track of the knotty (and often vaguely incestuous) family narrative? This problem isn’t helped by the fact that the same three names get recycled throughout the novel, in increasingly fantastical combinations.”

The study goes on to state that the second challenge is about the second half of the book — namely, whether to bother adapting it. Few adaptations do, preferring to focus on the first part of Catherine and Heathcliff’s story, the part that can be considered a romance. In the second, lesser-known part of “Wuthering Heights,” Heathcliff is a bitter tyrant and their love has warped into something toxic. While we’ll have to wait for Emerald Fennell’s version to drop to find out how much of the novel has been adapted, readers are already convinced that it will be very different from the book. Opinion is split on whether that’s a band thing or not, but it seems clear that staunch Brontë fans are not sold on the project. “Looking forward to their Yorkshire accents,” writer Lisa Holdsworth joked (via the BBC), pointing out that the two stars are both Australian.

What do the best period piece movies ever made have in common? Incredible and, for the most part, accurate costumes. Like they would with any period piece adaptation, fans of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel began to disect the wardrobe choices when the trailer for 2026’s “Wuthering Heights” was released online. Instagram user ladysapientia (who is a costume designer based on their bio) shared a post discussing their initial impressions of the costumes in the trailer, and they aren’t consistent with the time period of the source material by any means. “Robbie’s costumes looked much more Victorian to me, especially 1860’s with one of the costumes looking like it had something very similar to a Swiss waist which was hugely popular in the 1860s,” they wrote in the caption. 

As a reminder, the book is set in the late 18th century, going through time into the early 19th century, so quite a bit earlier than the 1860s. People also noted the scene in which someone is pulling a corset ribbon tight, likely on Catherine, but there is nothing underneath the corset. Typically, a chemise or another piece of clothing is on under a corset — it isn’t just put on bare skin. This might be playing into the sexual tones of the trailer, but it isn’t historically accurate in the slightest (and it doesn’t look comfortable). While fans of period pieces have come to expect inaccurate costuming to some degree, it doesn’t make it any less of a bummer.

With all the changes that appear to be in Emerald Fennell’s version of “Wuthering Heights,” some have suggested that the film is actually going to be a more meta adaptation — there’s a theory that it’s actually about someone reading the book and inserting themselves into the narrative, imagining themselves and their lover as Catherine and Heathcliff. It feels like an odd way to adapt a literary classic, but it would certainly be a new spin on the material, and it does seem like something Fennell would do.

There are a few things that point to a meta adaptation. The changing costumes, for one, imply at least two different time periods, which could line up with someone reading it and then fantasizing about it. The sexualized moments shown in the trailer could also be rooted in that fantasy. And, interestingly, when Warner Bros. posted the trailer to YouTube, the video title included the film’s name in quotation marks, as does the title card in the trailer itself. This isn’t something the company does with every trailer, making “Wuthering Heights” the odd one out. It implies that, while the film is called “Wuthering Heights,” what audiences are in for isn’t a classic adaptation.

These could all be separate things on their own, but when looked at together, it further confuses those interested in the movie and increases the worry fans feel about the upcoming adaptation. Hopefully, all of our worries are for nothing and the new film ends up wowing “Wuthering Heights” fans everywhere.