Wuthering Heights 2026: Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi Lead Emerald Fennell’s Gothic Romance

• by Arlen Fitzpatrick
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A sharp new take on a stormy classic

Gothic romance is getting a big-screen jolt in 2026, as Emerald Fennell turns her eye to Emily Brontë’s wild, wind-beaten tragedy. Titled Wuthering Heights 2026, the film pairs Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw with Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, a duo built to spark — and scorch — in a story that runs on obsession, class, and the kind of love that corrodes.

Fennell, who won an Oscar for Promising Young Woman and stirred debate with Saltburn, writes, directs, and produces here. Her calling cards — sharp psychological detail, a taste for moral gray zones, and a feel for status games — line up neatly with Brontë’s knotty original. Where some adaptations have leaned into windswept romance, Fennell’s track record points to something more jagged: a love story that’s both magnetic and destructive.

The film is a Warner Bros. Pictures and MRC title, presented as a Lie Still & LuckyChap Entertainment production. Robbie produces through LuckyChap alongside Fennell and producer Josey McNamara, with Sara Desmond and Tom Ackerley serving as executive producers. That setup suggests the kind of creative control Fennell had on her last two features — and a studio push big enough to make an 1847 novel feel like a 2026 event.

The supporting cast looks carefully chosen for perspective, not just period trappings. Hong Chau plays Nelly Dean, the housekeeper whose vantage point frames much of the book’s pain and memory; Vy Nguyen portrays Nelly in her younger years. Shazad Latif takes on Edgar Linton with Alison Oliver as Isabella Linton, the genteel siblings whose lives get tangled in Catherine and Heathcliff’s storm. Young performers Owen Cooper (Young Heathcliff) and Charlotte Mellington (Young Catherine) help the story range across childhood vows and adult fallout. Martin Clunes and Ewan Mitchell round out the ensemble.

Set against the Yorkshire moors, the production leans into the landscape as a character. The film was shot in VistaVision, a large-format approach known for detail and breadth, which typically yields sweeping horizons and needle-sharp textures. It’s the kind of format that can render rushes of heather and slate-gray skies with the same intensity as a clenched jaw or a glance that lands like a threat. Expect scale — and a lot of weather.

Marketing is already shaping the mood. A teaser that arrived in September 2025 carried the line “Drive me mad,” a neat summation of the book’s fever and its cycles of love and revenge. The rollout positions the film as a Valentine’s Day release — international dates start February 11, 2026, with U.S. theaters following on February 13 — which is both on-brand and a little mischievous. This is romance, yes, but the kind that hurts.

There’s a reason Wuthering Heights keeps returning to screens. It’s not just the swoon; it’s the structure. A love story about class and ownership; a man made furious by rejection and social exclusion; a woman torn between desire and survival. Brontë’s novel is built like a haunted house: every room holds a consequence. Fennell’s previous work thrives on cause-and-effect spirals, so the match feels natural.

Robbie’s turn as Catherine should draw plenty of attention. Her recent run — Barbie, Babylon, and producer credits across a growing slate — shows range from satire to spectacle. Catherine requires switches in temperature: luminous, cruel, wistful, impulsive. It’s a role where charm can curdle in a heartbeat. Elordi, meanwhile, brings a different kind of electricity. After Euphoria, Priscilla, and Saltburn, he’s leaned into characters who carry a charge that’s hard to place — tender one minute, volatile the next. Heathcliff asks for that volatility, along with a sense of history that sits on the skin.

Hong Chau as Nelly signals something else: a story that respects the narrator. Nelly holds the keys to the house, literally and figuratively. Her version of events in the book filters what we know and what we think we know. With Chau in the part, the film may build suspense in how memories are told and retold, how judgment blurs with care, and how domestic labor sees everything the gentry would rather hide.

Shazad Latif and Alison Oliver, as Edgar and Isabella, bring the Lintons’ sheen into focus — comfort, taste, and all the soft edges that turn sharp under pressure. Their world is the foil to the Heights: manners and sunlight versus storms and stone. If Fennell plays the class contrasts as she did in Saltburn, expect social spaces — drawing rooms, dinner tables, dances — to double as arenas.

Large-format shooting hints at a sensorial strategy. VistaVision captures scale without sacrificing intimacy, which could matter in a story that flips between windswept exteriors and close-quarters conflict. On the moors, bodies look small and stubborn, pushing against weather and fate. Indoors, faces become landscapes: blush, bruise, sweat, the trace of a tear that shouldn’t be there. Knowing Fennell, that line between environment and emotion won’t just be pretty — it’ll be narrative.

Timing is calculated. A February release gives the film a runway separate from late-year awards crush while tapping couples’ night out with a clear pitch: love, but darker. It’s a bet that audiences will show up for a classic told with bite, and for a pairing — Robbie and Elordi — that blends marquee draw with fresh chemistry. The studio’s confidence, the teaser’s tone, and the format choice all suggest a push beyond the period-drama niche.

The book’s afterlife on film stretches back nearly a century, with notable pass-throughs: William Wyler’s 1939 version with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier shaped the myth; Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 take with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes leaned into doomed passion; Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation favored stark, lived-in realism. Fennell’s version looks poised to be the most psychologically contemporary — less heritage postcard, more fixation under glass.

Cast, production, and release details

Cast highlights:

• Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw
• Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff
• Hong Chau as Nelly Dean
• Vy Nguyen as Young Nelly
• Shazad Latif as Edgar Linton
• Alison Oliver as Isabella Linton
• Owen Cooper as Young Heathcliff
• Charlotte Mellington as Young Catherine
• Martin Clunes (supporting)
• Ewan Mitchell (supporting)

Creative team and production:

• Written, directed, and produced by Emerald Fennell
• Producers: Josey McNamara, Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie
• Executive producers: Sara Desmond, Tom Ackerley
• Studios: Warner Bros. Pictures and MRC; presented as a Lie Still & LuckyChap Entertainment Production
• Format: Shot in VistaVision

Marketing and release:

• Teaser released September 2025 with the tagline “Drive me mad.”
• International release begins February 11, 2026.
• U.S. theatrical release on February 13, 2026.

So what should viewers expect? Not a soft-focus Valentine, but a portrait of love as possession and a world that punishes anyone who crosses its class lines. If Fennell follows her instincts, every choice — costumes that signal rank, rooms that squeeze or seduce, skies that refuse to clear — will serve the psychology. Brontë wrote about people who would rather burn than bend. This team looks ready to light the match.