Emerald Fennell’s 2026 Wuthering Heights dropped its trailer and it's as steamy and raunchy as ever.

The film will be released on Valentine's Day of 2026. To release a film that's central ‘romance’ is often described as deranged and abusive on Valentine's Day may be seen as a gross misjudgement. However, it may be a further inkling that this film will be anything but a true representation of the book and instead a sexy romcom. 

Starring Australian talent Barbie’s Margot Robbie and Saltburn heartthrob Jacob Elordi, only a short glimpse into the film has proved controversial, ruffling the feathers of both Brontë lovers and literary traditionalists. 

Fennell seems to have mirrored the shock factor that left literary critics in a bind when the book was published nearly 200 years ago. 

Dr Chris Murray, Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies at Monash University, said he avoids adaptations of Wuthering Heights as they often are a complete misrepresentation of the story. 

“It definitely struck me as like a vehicle of the director's aesthetic,” Murray said. 

"It's also just very useful to Hollywood, because these stories are out of copyright. The story is there to just impose whatever aesthetic you want, amplify whatever parts you like,” he said. 

The highly erotic trailer with backing vocals by Charli xcx’s "Everything is Romantic" proves that the movie will be anything but a true and accurate depiction of the novel. 

Fennell’s choice to place the title “Wuthering Heights” within quotation marks has caused stipulation as to whether the film will be a retelling of the novel or will be using the well-known name as a loose guide and framework for an unconventional piece.

The trailer begins with Catherine (Robbie) transfixed whilst kneading bread of the vision Heathcliff (Elordi) as his muscular back piles hay and they exchange lustful glances. 

The trailer advances in raunchiness from here; both Heathcliff and Catherine continually put their fingers in each other's mouth or their own as they pine neurotically away for each other. 

Evocative outfits, vibrant colours and a woman wearing a bridle whilst a man cracks a whip only further proves that Fennell is bringing her auteur expertise from Saltburn into this film. 

Emily Brontë’s novel, written under the pseudonym Currer Bell, has continually caused shock and even disgust since its initial publication in 1847. 

The raw emotion of characters' ruthless and crazed passion defied the boundaries of 19th century literature and brought a new undefined narrative to audiences.

Brontë brought a previously unseen emotional depth to characters such as Heathcliff whilst he obsessively and often abusively pined for Catherine.

Social niceties are often disregarded as characters sling words as weapons throughout the novel.

Murray sees his perception of the novel as highly valuable to his experience of the story. 

“It's a special novel for me as it is for many people. And I don't want that to be overturned, or I don't want my vision of it to be dethroned by someone else's vision of it,” he said. 

The dress debate 

Criticisms have even arisen over costume choices made by Fennell's costume director, Jacqueline Durren, who is famous for the green dress in Atonement and the pastels and pinks of Barbie. 

The trailer features Robbie dressed in an '80s-style off-the-shoulder wedding dress, complete with puffed sleeves and voluminous full skirt. 

Critics such as _jennasatquoi argued that the style of the dress is ‘far too modern’ for the novel's time period, thus deeming it a failed attempt at historical accuracy. 

However, writer at British Vogue Daisy Jones has quelled as to whether it really matters if the costumes are accurate or not. 

“Its worth remembering that Wuthering Heights is a fictional novel, not a historical document,” she said. 

Murray said that certain elements of texts can appeal to society at different periods of time. 

“Elements of their books were found unpalatable to reviewers in the Victorian period, but they speak perhaps more agreeably to the way we talk about emotions nowadays," he said. 

The question of ethnicity

Ever since Fennell announced her plans to adapt the classic novel in July 2024, her casting choices have sparked controversy with Jacob Elordi being cast as a white Heathcliff.

In an interview with Deadline in April 2025 the casting director, Kharmel Cochrane, did not see any concern in her controversial casting choices saying that it is "just a book" and has "no need to be accurate". 

Within the novel, Heathcliff’s ambiguous ethnicity as a 'dark-skinned gypsy' contributes to his position as an outcast within society.  

Online viewers and avid fans of the classic novel were frustrated with the choice. TikTok account ‘vivafalastinleen’ accused Fennell of "stripping the story of anything meaningful" by not casting a person of colour into the role of Heathcliff. 

Her video with more than 100,000 views claims that his racial position "drives the story forward" and without it, "it is just not Wuthering Heights". 

She goes on to criticise the casting choice of Robbie, who due to being in her 30s can not accurately illustrate the foolishness that comes with naivety and youth. 

However, some such as TikToker 'authorimmcmahon' see her racial casting as an intentional choice. She argues that Fennell may be trying to "defeat the angry man of colour stereotype" as she instead cast a person of colour in the role of a much less angry character: Shazad Latif as Edgar Linton. 

Catherine's rejection of Heathcliff, his treatment by other characters and his violent behaviour to reject and rise above his inferiority all lead back to his ‘otherness’. 

Descriptions of Heathcliff are not definitive to one particular race and instead vary throughout the text and can be inferred as Romanian Gypsy, Jewish, Black, or even Irish. 

According to Murray, Brontë is deliberate in keeping Heathcliff's ethnicity dubious. She conceals his identity to instead highlight the vengeful lengths he will go to to fit into the system that has rejected him.

Murray says that Heathcliff’s racial identity is indicative of Emily Brontë’s family history and position in society. 

“[It] echoes the journey of Brontë's own family and her father, in particular, who had migrated from Ireland and the family had gradually anglicised its name and tried to pass itself off as [a] respectable English family, and didn't quite succeed." 

The family changed the spelling of their name from Brunty to Brontë. 

All but one of the past adaptations of Wuthering Heights have depicted a white Anglo-Saxon Healthcliff. 

Past Heathcliffs include Laurence Olivier in the 1939 film, Timothy Dalton (1970), and Ralph Fiennes (1992). 

A black Heathcliff was portrayed in Andrea Arnold's 2011 film by James Howson. 

Murray said it will be interesting to see what the film will do instead of displaying race to depict Heathcliff’s otherness. 

Whilst Murray said that telling a story is a very subjective thing, he is personally critical of adaptations of classics such as Wuthering Heights or Frankenstein as they often cannot capture the art of the novel.