Hold on to your corsets, Brontë fans! Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is thundering onto screens this Valentine’s Day, and from the looks of that trailer, it’s less Brontë and more Bridgerton on a blood moon. Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie are the new Heathcliff and Cathy, and no, the internet isn’t sure whether to swoon or scream.
FROM MOORS TO MOVIE STARS
Margot Robbie, queen of the Barbie box office and executive producer extraordinaire, slips into the windswept gowns of Catherine Earnshaw. Across from her? Euphoria’s resident tall, dark, and brooding Jacob Elordi, brooding even harder as Heathcliff. However, from the first looks of the trailer, it remains unclear if anyone’s informed him he’s playing one of literature’s most emotionally damaged (and damaging) men, and not a runway model in a trench coat.
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Fennell, known for Promising Young Woman and the wildly divisive Saltburn, is at the helm, promising a “passionate and tragic” retelling of Brontë’s 1847 classic. But based on the trailer’s dizzying visuals, throbbing synth score, and what looked suspiciously like a sex scene on a tombstone, subtlety may have been left on the editing room floor.
GOTHIC? YES. BRONTË? BARELY.
Fennell knows drama, but turning Wuthering Heights into a maximalist fever dream is definitely a bold move. The trailer teases rain-drenched makeouts, screaming matches in candlelit corridors, and Heathcliff staring into the abyss (presumably wondering how he ended up in a movie that looks like Crimson Peak meets Saltburn 2: Ghosts of Yorkshire).
The internet’s already ablaze with reactions: TikTok’s losing its mind over Elordi’s “feral sex appeal,” while literary Twitter is preparing their pitchforks.
BIDDING WAR MADNESS
Let’s not forget the behind-the-scenes drama. Netflix threw down $150 million trying to land this thing before Warner Bros snagged it with a still-staggering $80 million offer. Clearly, someone thinks Heathcliff has box office power. Or maybe they just saw Elordi’s cheekbones in 4K.
With LuckyChap and MRC bankrolling the chaos, expect luxury production design, whisper-thin historical accuracy, and a playlist-ready soundtrack.
P.S. Don’t act shocked when Florence + The Machine starts wailing over the final scene.
THE SUPPORTING CAST? ACTUALLY INTRIGUING
In a rare bright spot of authenticity, Hong Chau takes on Nelly Dean, while rising star Alison Oliver gets a shot at turning the often-forgotten Isabella Linton into more than just a plot device. Shazad Latif as Edgar is an inspired casting choice, though judging by the trailer, he may get about 10 minutes of screen time before being emotionally eviscerated by Heathcliff and Cathy’s codependent death-waltz.
And yes, there are flashbacks. Expect plenty of tortured glances from the younger cast – Owen Cooper (young Heathcliff), Charlotte Mellington (young Cathy), and Vy Nguyen (young Nelly) – who may or may not spend half the movie running dramatically across the moors in slow motion.
FINAL VERDICT?
This isn’t the Wuthering Heights you read in school. It is barely the Wuthering Heights that Emily wrote.
