Wuthering Heights Director Defends ‘Primal and Sexual’ Adaptation Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi

Emily Brontë shook the propriety of mid-19th-century England with her sensational gothic romance-horror novel, Wuthering Heights, when it was published in 1847. Emerald Fennell‘s adaptation of the same 179 years later will do the same with her “primal and sexual” take on the beloved classic.

In an interview with Variety, the director defended her take on the novel, saying:

Set to star Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, the 2026 film is loosely based on the author’s original work. If the casting was not already a glaring problem, then Fennell’s “loose” and liberal adaptation is sure to spark furor among fans and critics alike. However, the director is already armed and prepared to defend her work from those who don’t want a reimagining of the classic tale.

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Adaptation Sets Itself Up to Disappoint

Not every work is designed to be adapted into a film, and not everyone has the right temperament to do a certain work of literature justice. If Emerald Fennell was keen on telling a dark, gothic tale of romance and horror, perhaps she could have done so with her own original script without having to dissect an unimpeachable classic like Wuthering Heights.

Ardent fans of Emily Brontë’s work are currently up in arms about Fennell’s contentious take on the story of Catherine and Heathcliffe. Theirs is a psychologically tragic and twisted tale that is never meant to be reimagined as a “primal and sexual” saga of paramours. Even in a world where fan-fictions exist on characters like Draco and Hermione, some reimaginings are simply sacrilegious to the senses and unacceptable in the realm of creative freedom.

At this point, Emerald Fennell is simply setting herself up to disappoint her fans and further drive a wedge of contentious debate with her latest work. If the 2026 film is meant to serve as a provocative tale crafted for shock value, considering how Saltburn turned out, Fennell will need more than a well-meant apology to overcome the onslaught of criticism that is headed her way.

Meanwhile, the casting choice is a whole other can of worms. Ongoing outrage about Jacob Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff centers on the character’s implied ethnicity in the novel as dark-skinned and closer to Catherine’s age. Elordi is none of those. Catherine herself is noted as having brown hair, while Margot Robbie retains her blonde look for the adaptation.

With discrepancies rampant throughout the adaptation’s most basic elements, one wonders why Fennell bothered to call it Wuthering Heights and not give it an entirely new title. At least then, Fennell would have plausible deniability and the fans would have no legitimate reason to rage over the subject matter.

What We Know So Far About Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s New Film

Wuthering Heights (2026) [Credit: Warner Bros. Motion Pictures]

Wuthering Heights, the epitome of all gothic romances, is a masterpiece from the limited oeuvre of Emily Brontë, who published the novel a year before her tragically premature death at the age of 30. Now, the novel is set to be adapted into a feature film by Saltburn director Emerald Fennell.

Below is a comprehensive list of all the necessary details known so far about the upcoming film:

What do you think of the casting and overall tone of the upcoming adaptation of Brontë’s novel? Share your opinions on the film in the comments below.

The film is set to be released on February 13, 2026, in the US.