Before the Wuthering Heights 2026 reviews hit

This is (sort of, anyway) the quiet before the storm. Reviews of Wuthering Heights 2026 are embargoed until later today and it seems we are all waiting with bated breath for them.

News Australia has a video interview with director Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. A contributor to The Heights aptly defends Wuthering Heights 2026 albeit half-heartedly.

Fennell is not exactly my favorite director. Her work is shocking but often comes up short of any significant meaning. I have a little appreciation, however, for the fact that she does seem aware of the impossibility of her task. 

When asked about her adaptation, she has made it clear that her goal is not to adapt it faithfully. Instead, she is creating the version of Wuthering Heights that she imagined when she first read it. The quotations in the title are purposeful and serve as a sort of load-bearing. 

This is the aspect of the movie that I would like to defend. I think it is a fascinating and sort of genius idea to explore. Examining how young adults can change and shift plots based on how it impacts their lives is incredibly interesting.

I distinctly remember making barely relevant characters more important in my head when reading classics in middle school. When we’re younger, imagination truly takes a life of its own. 

Things like fan fiction are often the arenas of young adults because they simply have a stronger connection to their imagination. Using this as inspiration for your art at an older age could have a really interesting effect. I would love the opportunity to explore the things I got “wrong” about the works I read when I was young.

This movie is not a perfect adaptation. It definitely has offensive casting. But examining your own childhood imagination is an idea that I think deserves some respect, even if it upsets quite a few English majors. (Katie Spillane)

'It definitely has offensive casting', my goodness. Similarly, Far Out Magazine claims that 'Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ casting defence is just another example of Hollywood’s glaring racial bias'.

The thing is, if you’re reading a novel that actively describes a character as having dark skin and references him looking like he could be potentially Romani, Indian, or mixed race, and then you’re picturing a white man – that’s pure racial bias. Fennell’s vision of Heathcliff is one that she perhaps found more familiarity in, having grown up surrounded by affluent, white society, and that’s just not accurate.

Hollywood’s incessant whitewashing only erases people of colour from narratives that they belong in, and with film serving as such a potent mirror to society, it says a lot about our world if, even now, a white character is cast in a role in a major film that is so intrinsically not white. [...]

This is a perfect example of Hollywood’s dark history of racism – just look at the statistics when it comes to Black directors and actors winning Oscars – and Fennell shouldn’t be able to just cast whoever she likes without considering the consequences of what this means for on-screen representation. That role could’ve gone to someone else, but of course, Fennell handed it to the white boy of the moment, Elordi. 

With Wuthering Heights standing as a story so intrinsically about class and otherness, it’s interesting that someone as well-off as Fennell, who so disastrously attempted to explore class in Saltburn, has taken a crack at it. And already her vision of Heathcliff feels fetishistic, machismo and erotics emphasised above anything. But this is not an erotic romance – it’s one of abuse, tragedy, and trauma – and the least Fennell could do is get the casting of the book’s most important character right. (Aimee Ferrier)

Isn't it scary that there are people out there pretending to defend whatever they are pretending to defend (not artistic freedom, that's for sure) and claiming, just like that, that 'Fennell shouldn’t be able to just cast whoever she likes'? Isn't that a bit that F word they love to bandy about? Definite 1937 Germany Degenerate Art vibes about it. And anyway, our copies of Wuthering Heights must be all defective as we can't find the bit where Nelly is described as having Asian features. And just for the record, we are all for Hong Chau playing her, but it works both ways. Just let a director choose the cast she wants for her own film, end of story.

Not without reason, then, Happy Mag describes it as 'the film dividing the internet' (most of which hasn't even seen it yet). But then again it also claims that it's a film about British high society, so perhaps take it all with a large pinch of salt.

SlashFilm recommends streaming Wuthering Heights 1939 before the latest adaptation.

William Wyler's 1939 adaptation of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" can openly claim use of the adjective "sweeping." It's a sweeping romance, buoyed largely by Laurence Olivier's performance as the handsome, sweaty, belligerent stableboy Heathcliff. One can really sense the romantic angst in the film as Heathcliff constantly tries to connect with his beloved Catherine (Merle Oberon) and how angry he becomes when he is spurned. (Mirroring his character, Laurence Olivier wasn't very polite on set.) 

"Wuthering Heights" chronicles the stalled romance between Heathcliff and Catherine and how notions of class interfered in their potential relationship. Heathcliff was raised alongside Cathy but was never accepted by Cathy's angry brother, Hindley (played by Hugh Williams in the 1939 film). Heathcliff and Cathy have a youthful romance and sweep through the moors with big feelings in their hearts. Cathy, however, marries a richer man named Edgar (David Niven), rejecting Heathcliff because she believes that marrying a stableboy would "degrade" her. Heathcliff becomes rich as a matter of wooing her back, but she still spurns him. 

Many film adaptations of "Wuthering Heights," including Wyler's version, omit the second half of Brontë's novel, which involves Cathy's daughter and Heathcliff's son falling in love, intergenerationally patching up a romantic injustice. Wyler's film instead ends with the ghosts of the dead Heathcliff and the dead Cathy haunting the moors where they once enjoyed their most intense love. 

Olivier is marvelous, perhaps standing as the gold standard for all Heathcliffs to come after him. [...]

If you were writing a book report on "Wuthering Heights," and you watched Wyler's film instead, you'd get a bad grade. A lot of time-shifting and narrative alteration was employed to make it more cinematic. But that doesn't mean it's not a great movie. It captures certain literary mannerisms that lend the film a note of melodramatic power. It was such a good movie that it became the high-water mark for all future "Wuthering Heights" adaptations. 

And there have been plenty of adaptations. The BBC adapted it for television in 1948, and CBS did a version with Charlton Heston in 1950. The BBC came back in 1953 and re-did the story with Richard Todd and Yvonne Mitchell. CBS, not to be outdone, also remade "Wuthering" in 1958 with Rosemary Harris and Richard Burton. There have been adaptations in 1959, 1962, 1970, 1992, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2022. Bafflingly, the 2003 and 2015 renditions were teen adaptations, with the 2003 version put out by MTV. The 2015 version was called "Wuthering High School." And those are just the English-language adaptations. There were many international versions of "Wuthering Heights" as well, not to mention a dozen radio adaptations. And, of course, there was a semaphore version on "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Brontë's novel is well-worn territory.

But through it all, Wyler's version remains one of the most famous and well-regarded, and the fact that it's available for free on YouTube makes it easily accessible for newcomers. Time will tell if Emerald Fennell's version will become as popular, or if her "Wuthering Heights" will become a box office hit. This time around Margot Robbie will be playing Cathy, while the handsome Jacob Elordi will be playing Heathcliff. 

William Wyler's "Wuthering Heights" was highly celebrated by the Academy, and was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture (back when the category was called "Outstanding Production"), Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay. The only Oscar it won, however, was Best Black and White Cinematography, earned by the legendary Gregg Toland. 

It's worth remembering, though, that 1939 was a crackerjack year for movies, and "Wuthering Heights" was up against heavy-hitters like "The Wizard of Oz," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Stagecoach," "Of Mice and Men," and "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." Oh yes, and all of those films lost to the supra-blockbuster "Gone with the Wind," which is still the highest-grossing movie of all time, when adjusted for inflation. "Gone with the Wind" was nominated for 13 Oscars and won eight. It was also granted two special Oscars, one for its use of color and another for Technical Achievement. These days, of course, "Gone with the Wind" is a bit of a tough watch. 

Really, a mere sweeping romance like "Wuthering Heights" didn't stand a chance in such an environment. Indeed, "Wuthering Heights," while a pretty great film, is often listed low on lists of the greatest films of 1939, merely because competition was so stiff. "The Wizard of Oz" is one of the most famous movies of all time, and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is one of the most important American stories ever written. 

But, thanks to YouTube, you can now see the first ever feature film adaptation of Cathy and Heathcliff's sweeping love story. And you can swoon looking at the young Laurence Olivier's handsome face. Good God, is he ever hot in that movie. (Witney Seibold)

Gold Derby looks at 'how previous Brontë adaptations have fared in the awards race'.

As we wait for Robbie and Elordi to descend into theaters next week, here's how the different versions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights have fared at the Oscars, Emmys and other awards races over the decades.

Wuthering Heights (1939)

The first Hollywood studio-made Wuthering Heights adaptation in the Oscar era starred Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, and was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Actress, Art Direction, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, and Score. Olivier also received a Best Actor nomination, the first of many leading up to his eventual win for 1949’s Hamlet. However, the 1939 iteration had the disadvantage of releasing in the same year as Gone With the Wind, which famously swept the Academy Awards with 13 nominations and eight wins. (Funnily enough, Fennell’s iteration pays direct homage to Gone With the Wind — and not the 1939 Wuthering Heights — in one visually striking scene with Elordi's Heathcliff.) The William Wyler-directed film did win one Oscar for Gregg Toland's gorgeous black-and-white cinematography. At that time, the category was divided between color and black-and-white films, a tradition that continued until 1967.

Jane Eyre (1970)

The 1970 British version of Jane Eyre was directed by Delbert Mann, who previously won the Best Director Oscar for 1955's Best Picture, Marty. The film played theatrically in the U.K., but bypassed U.S. movie houses for an NBC broadcast in 1971. George C. Scott — who won the Best Actor statuette for Patton that same year — played Rochester and Oscar-nominated actress Susannah York pis Jane. Because of its TV airing, the film was Emmy-eligible and received a number of nods, including Best Actor and Actress for Scott and York. But it ultimately went home with only one prize for one of John Williams' pre-Jaws scores.

Wuthering Heights (1970)

Released the same year as Mann’s Jane Eyre, Robert Fuest's British-made Wuthering Heights starred Anna Calder-Marshall and Cathy and a pre-James Bond Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff. Fun fact: according to Kate Bush herself, this is the adaptation that inspired her own tribute to the Brontë book. While reviews were less positive from non-Bush viewers, the film did pull in audiences on both sides of the pond. And Oscar-winning composer Michel Legrand scored a Golden Globe nod for Original Score at the 1971 ceremony.

Jane Eyre (2006)

The Sandy Welch-written and Susanna White-directed BBC miniseries received high praise for its potent storytelling and excellent casting, with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens playing Jane and Rochester, respectively. Airing in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theater, the four-episode series scored nine Miniseries/Movie nominations at the 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards, including recognition for both Welch and White, as well as a number of crafts categories. Jane Eyre ultimately won two statuettes for art direction and hairstyling. In its native land, Wilson received a Best Actress BAFTA nomination, while Anne Oldham's makeup and hair design won the BAFTA in that category.

Jane Eyre (2011)

Cary Joji Fukunaga's extravagantly gothic adaptation of Jane Eyre starred Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender as the central couple. Released in March, the film was largely out of the running when the 2012 Oscar season commenced, but it is the first Eyre adaptation to ever score an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design for Michael O'Connor's period looks. (O'Connor had won that statuette two years prior for The Duchess, starring Kiera Knightley.) Fassbender was named Best Actor by the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, while Wasikowska was nominated for Best Actress by the British Independent Film Awards.

Wuthering Heights (2011)

2011 was 1970 all over again with dueling Brontë adaptations. Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrea Arnold was behind this stripped-down take on Wuthering Heights, the first version directed by a female filmmaker. In another first, James Howson became the first Black actor to portray Heathcliff — a choice that remains divisive among Brontë experts, despite textual evidence. Also starring Kaya Scodelario as Cathy, the film debuted at the Venice Film Festival, where it was nominated for a Golden Lion and took home the prize for Outstanding Cinematography for Arnold's frequent collaborator Robbie Ryan. (Rendy Jones)

Yorkshire Live looks at locals' reactions to the new visitors to Haworth prompted by the film.

Diane Park runs the Wave of Nostalgia book shop in Haworth, and said a decade ago, when the shop first opened, it seemed many people in the town had forgotten about the sisters. She said: "The Brontë sisters, sometimes people didn't even know who they were.

"So they might read Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights at school, but they didn't realise there's three sisters, three geniuses in the same family, and four if you count Branwell.

"I learned loads coming here because I thought it's really important for me to understand who and what the Brontë sisters did and wrote, so now I'm a bit of a geek!"

However, with the announcement of the new film, there have been more visitors than ever. Diane said: "When a big event like this happens, which is not that often to be honest, it's great because it will bring tourists.

"It brings people to the village who come and have a look, but volume of people doesn't mean volume of sales, because people just come to look and that's great, and they might come back again another time because it's a beautiful village."

It's clear though that the Brontë's continue to be influential in the village, as next week there will be a book launch there for a new retelling of Wuthering Heights, called Catherine, by author Essie Fox.

Other authors also continue to be inspired by the work of the three sisters, including Michael Stewart and Claire O'Callaghan, who both live locally. Claire has written a biography of Emily Brontë, who wrote Wuthering Heights, and works as a Senior Lecturer of Victoria Studies.

Claire often finds herself challenging myths around Emily in particular, and her work, especially as there is a great deal of mystery around Emily herself. She also finds herself challenging the myth that Wuthering Heights is only a romance book.

Michael has written for tv, radio, and theatre, as well as ten of his own books, including one called Ill Will, which tells the story of Heathcliff's missing years from Wuthering Heights. While writing this, and studying Heathcliff's racial ambiguity in the novel, he learnt about how slaves were brought to England, despite the practice being illegal.

Claire explained: "For me, the kind of crux of it is that you've got deeply flawed, complex characters, who are so psychologically complex, so cruel to each other, so destructive, but tapping into those kind of feelings and yearning and desire, and ideas of love that everyone sees.

"But what makes people return to it, is that Emily Brontë gives us this kind of story, of these characters who are interested in one another, do desire each other, do have lots of passionate erotic moments, without the sentimentality, without the clichés, without the happily ever after."

Michael added: "I think on top of that, it's Shakespearean in its epic scale. Think about the themes, they're the big ones, it's love, it's hate, it's life, it's death, it's revenge, it's grief.

"These are the huge themes that have lasted throughout our stories, and that's Shakespeare, and you go back to Greek times, these are the ones that persist also."

For both, it's clear how somewhere like Haworth could inspire a story like Wuthering Heights. Claire adds: "They look out the front, and they've got a graveyard and then an industrial mill, this would have been full of workers, weavers, factories, all of those things.

"But then turn around and walk back on your own and you're in those moors."

Michael said: "In 1824, Emily witnessed a bog burst above Haworth, which made national headlines, the moors exploded. So she saw how violent nature could be, and Heathcliff, in a way, is a kind of personification of that violence."

Locals though, can get a little fed up about the constant talk about the Brontës from tourists. Claire added: "We've been into bars where people have said 'don't mention them'. On the one hand, somebody famous said, 'if you took the Brontës away from Haworth, there'd be nothing there', and in a way, they are Haworth."

But it's clear the Brontës remain popular, as when Michael launched an Emily Brontë summer school, it filled up almost immediately, with very littel advertisement, with people from America and Europe signing up.

Both Michael and Claire are hopeful for the new film, and believe it might inspire more people to both come to Haworth, and to read the original book, despite their reservations over the decision to not film the second half of the book.

Michael is hopeful for the production in terms of its filiming, saying: "It looks crackers, its clearly anachronistic deliberately."

"I think this is going to be different to anything, I mean, Emerald Fennell is an auteur isn't she, and I think to me one of the genius strokes is the music, Charli XCX, that's going to bring in a different audience," he adds.

As for non-locals, Jayne and Ian were visiting Haworth from Nottinghamshire, after having visited and loved the town in the past. Jayne explained she was familiar with some things about the Brontës, saying: "I know about Wuthering Heights, that's probably about it."

But the town still had plenty to see for them, with Ian adding: "We came a long, long time ago, about 20-years-ago, and liked it very much. So as we were coming up this way, we thought we'd come and visit again, we didn't quite expect it to be so cold and wet!"

It's clear that in Haworth, the legacy of the Brontë sisters remains strong. As Claire said: "We know that, Charlotte wrote after Emily's death, this book was inspired by the native community, by the people that lived in these parts." (Sebastian McCormick)

AnneBrontë.org features Margot Robbie's Brontë-inspired bracelet.