Warner Brothers Pictures recently announced that Wuthering Heights, a classic Emily Bronte novel, would be hitting the big screens on February 13th, 2026, just in time for Valentine’s Day. The movie’s trailer features Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, two of the novel’s most prominent characters, in a less-than book accurate portrayal. Let’s dive into some of the inaccuracies that are hiding within the narration done by artist Charli XCX.
First and foremost, Heathcliff is described as a “dark-skinned gipsy,” which is a stark contrast to Jacob Elordi, who is a white male. Heathcliff’s race plays an important part in the book because it is one of the main factors of his social ostracization. To understand why Heathcliff’s race was so important to his social class, we must first look at the novel’s setting from a historical viewpoint. Heathcliff was adopted by Mr. Earnshaw, Catherine’s father, on a trip to Liverpool. Liverpool was actually a center of slave trade during the second half of the 18th century when the novel’s plot unfolded, which is an often overlooked fact in the novel. Heathcliff’s unknown, poor background combined with his race is meant to play a major role in his romantic conflict with Catherine, since Catherine will not marry him out of the fear of losing her status. Casting Jacob Elordi does not reflect this key detail, and detracts from one of the most important parts of Heathcliff’s conflict and purpose in the narrative.
Second, the movie can hardly be described as PG13. Many of the trailer’s scenes feature intimate, borderline risque moments that are not part of the original work. However, the director, Emerald Fennell, defended this choice, saying that the book was absolutely driven by such explicit encounters. This decision begs the question: Is this another overly-sexualized movie created for a block-busting weekend of profit? Or is this a reflection of a world that has gotten far too comfortable with disregarding a classic work’s integrity for modern audiences?
Lastly, both Elordi and Robbie are much older than their characters are supposed to be. Of course, actors have been playing characters that are meant to be much younger than them for decades, but this is yet another inaccuracy that cannot be simply cast off. Both Heathcliff and Catherine are meant to be young adults, just barely out of their teen years, which is not exemplified by Elordi, 28, or Robbie, 35, with much believability.
Still, there is no doubt that audiences will flock to see this inaccurate film adaptation in theatres in February to rate and digest the newest film from the renowned Saltburn director. The only question that remains is how many more novels and classic works of literature will be completely reworked and redirected to create Hollywood hits that don’t hold a smidge of resemblance to their original stories.