Wuthering Heights (2026 film)

Wuthering Heights (stylized with quotation marks) is a 2026 romantic period drama film produced, written and directed by Emerald Fennell. Loosely based on the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, the film was intended by Fennell to "recreate the feeling of a teenage girl reading this book for the first time." Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi respectively star as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, alongside Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, and Ewan Mitchell in supporting roles.

Wuthering Heights premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California on January 28, 2026, and was released in the United Kingdom and United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on February 13. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $157 million worldwide.

Plot

In 1771, a man is publicly hanged; his suffering and visible erection send spectators, including Catherine Earnshaw and her paid companion Nelly Dean, a lord's illegitimate daughter, into an ecstatic frenzy. Cathy's father, the abrasive, alcoholic Mr. Earnshaw, returns to his Gothic, windswept estate of Wuthering Heights on the Yorkshire Moors one day with a young boy he rescued off the Liverpool streets. He says the lad is to be Cathy's "pet".

Cathy becomes protective of the boy, naming him "Heathcliff" after her deceased brother. As time goes on, the pair become inseparable. After they are trapped in the rain and return home late on Mr. Earnshaw's birthday, Heathcliff assumes the blame and receives a whipping that leaves his back permanently scarred.

Years later, Wuthering Heights has fallen into disrepair due to Earnshaw's worsening alcoholism and gambling habits. Cathy plans to court her new neighbor, wealthy textile merchant Edgar Linton, to escape Wuthering Heights' bleak environment and help bring the lowly servant Heathcliff, now long-haired and bearded, into high society, though Heathcliff is jealous and disapproves.

Cathy sprains her ankle while spying on Edgar and his Romeo and Juliet-obsessed, flighty ward, Isabella, and is taken in for six weeks to heal. Edgar is smitten by Cathy and proposes marriage, which she accepts. She returns home fancily dressed; Heathcliff is standoffish.

Cathy sees servants Joseph and Zillah having a BDSM encounter in the barn. Heathcliff finds her, keeping her silent. Later, Cathy goes off to the moors and masturbates under her skirt. Heathcliff finds her shortly after, and they later have a passionate moment, but Cathy rejects Heathcliff's kiss.

While expressing to Nelly her guilt over choosing Edgar over Heathcliff, Cathy's words about how it would degrade her to marry impoverished Heathcliff are overheard by him. However, he leaves before Cathy professes that their souls are entwined. Much to Cathy's sorrow, the now heartbroken Heathcliff rides on horseback into the sunset.

A year later, Cathy marries Edgar and lives a lavish lifestyle at their home, Thrushcross Grange, where her room's walls made to resemble her skin. Isabella arranges for fine dresses for Cathy and makes a Cathy doll with Cathy's own hair. However, Cathy longs for Heathcliff's return.

Years later, Cathy is pregnant with Edgar's child. Heathcliff returns five years after his departure. He is well-groomed and short-haired, and has mysteriously acquired a fortune. Rather than being happy to see Cathy, he is bitter and angry over her decision to marry Edgar and considers marrying Isabella to make Cathy jealous.

Heathcliff purchases Wuthering Heights from Mr. Earnshaw, who dies soon after. Cathy visits and kicks her father's body, though she relents later. Isabella, who is infatuated with Heathcliff, lashes out at Cathy after she tells her that Heathcliff is not good for her. Soon, Cathy finds the Cathy doll stabbed and bloody in the dollhouse. Heathcliff begins an intense sexual affair with Cathy.

After Cathy realizes Nelly knew Heathcliff was listening when Cathy said marrying him would degrade her, she tries to banish Nelly. Nelly reveals the affair to Edgar, who forbids Cathy from seeing Heathcliff. Cathy reveals her pregnancy to Heathcliff, who claims to not mind, before having sex with her. He offers to kill Edgar, which Cathy rejects, and she dismisses him. Furious, Heathcliff enters into a loveless, BDSM relationship with Isabella, who understands the terms of the relationship and Heathcliff's motivations for starting it and consents to participation. Heathcliff degrades Isabella and treats her like a dog, much to her delight, though a visiting Nelly is horrified.

Depressed over Heathcliff marrying Isabella, Cathy locks herself in her room and starves herself. Heathcliff has Isabella send Cathy love letters, but Nelly burns them. Cathy becomes septicemic from the long-untreated miscarriage. She tells Nelly she forgives her treason of not telling her that Heathcliff overheard Cathy's hurtful words.

Nelly rescues Isabella and reveals to Heathcliff that Cathy is dying. He rides out on horseback, only to find when he arrives that she has already died. Heathcliff holds Cathy's dead body and begs her to drive him mad and not give him peace as long as he should live. He remembers the time after his beating when they were children atop a bed, when Cathy comforted him and smiled as he promised to never leave her.

Cast

• Margot Robbie as Catherine "Cathy" Earnshaw

• Charlotte Mellington as young Catherine Earnshaw

• Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff

• Owen Cooper as young Heathcliff

• Hong Chau as Nelly Dean

• Vy Nguyen as young Nelly Dean

• Shazad Latif as Edgar Linton
• Alison Oliver as Isabella Linton
• Martin Clunes as Mr. Earnshaw
• Ewan Mitchell as Joseph
• Amy Morgan as Zillah
• Jessica Knappett as Mrs. Burton
• Millie Kent as Jane
• Vicki Pepperdine as Sister Mercy
• Paul Rhys as Heathcliff's father

Production

Development and casting

In July 2024, filmmaker Emerald Fennell announced that she would write and direct an adaptation of the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. In September 2024, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi were cast as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, respectively, with Robbie also producing under her label LuckyChap Entertainment alongside financer MRC. Robbie previously produced Fennell's Promising Young Woman (2020) and Saltburn (2023), the latter of which starred Elordi. For her approach to adapting Brontë's novel, Fennell decided against a faithful retelling of its story, stating that her main intention was to "try and recreate the feeling of a teenage girl reading this book for the first time."

A bidding war in October led Netflix to bid $150 million for the distribution rights. Warner Bros. Pictures, with whom LuckyChap has a first-look deal and made Barbie (2023), ultimately won the rights with a significantly lower offer of $80 million after granting Fennell and Robbie's wishes for the film to have a theatrical release and a significant marketing campaign.

Elordi had been contemplating taking a hiatus from acting before Fennell offered him the lead role without having to audition. The decision to cast a white actor as the racially ambiguous Heathcliff, described as resembling a "dark-skinned gipsy" or "Lascar" in the novel, sparked controversy. In September 2025, Fennell defended her decision to cast Elordi, stating that he "looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff on the first book that I read." In November 2024, Hong Chau, Alison Oliver (who starred in Saltburn), and Shazad Latif joined the cast. In March 2025, Charlotte Mellington, Owen Cooper, and Vy Nguyen (all three making their film debuts) were announced as playing young Catherine, Heathcliff, and Nelly.

Filming

Principal photography took place in the United Kingdom from late January to early April 2025, using 35mm VistaVision cameras. Filming occurred at Sky Studios Elstree, with location shooting in the Yorkshire Dales including the valleys of Arkengarthdale and Swaledale, the village of Low Row, and the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Linus Sandgren was the cinematographer. During the first week of filming, Elordi accidentally gave himself a second degree burn when he stepped back against a steaming hot brass knob while taking a shower and had to go to the hospital.

Music

Anthony Willis composed the score for the film, after having worked with Fennell on Saltburn, with Charli XCX contributing an album of original songs. The lead single, "House" featuring Welsh musician John Cale, was released on November 10, 2025, alongside a music video directed by Mitch Ryan. A second song, "Chains of Love", was released on November 13, coinciding with the film's theatrical trailer, which also featured the song. Two further singles were released, "Wall of Sound" on January 16, 2026, and "Always Everywhere" on February 13, the same day as the album.