A bold take on a brutal love story
A stormy love story is back on the big screen. Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, with Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. The footage signals a charged, adult-skewing studio drama: sweeping moors, clenched jaws, and a romance that cuts as deep as it seduces.
Fennell writes, directs, and produces, leaning into the darker corners of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. The trailer keeps the beats simple—glances through rain-streaked windows, candlelit confrontations, and bodies braced against the wind—but it’s blunt about the core: desire that curdles into damage. You see two people pulling toward each other and tearing themselves apart in the process.
The cast points to a character-first approach. Shazad Latif steps in as Edgar Linton, the soft-spoken rival with real power; Hong Chau plays Nelly Dean, the housekeeper who often knows more than she says; and Alison Oliver appears as Isabella Linton, an innocent caught in the crossfire. Younger versions—Charlotte Mellington as Young Catherine, Owen Cooper as Young Heathcliff, Vy Nguyen as Young Nelly—hint at a dual-timeline structure. That matters. The childhood bond in this story isn’t background—it’s the fuse.
Robbie’s casting as Catherine is a swing. Catherine isn’t a tidy romantic heroine; she’s proud, impulsive, and often cruel to herself and others. Robbie has range to burn—from I, Tonya to Barbie—and here she looks ready to play Catherine as complicated rather than soft. Elordi’s Heathcliff brings a different threat. He’s tall and beautiful on the surface, but his recent work (Priscilla, Saltburn) showed how he can turn charisma into menace. Heathcliff needs that duality. He’s both the wounded outsider and the blade.
Fennell’s fingerprints are all over the tone. Promising Young Woman and Saltburn were stylish, pointed, and very aware of class, entitlement, and desire. Brontë’s book lives in those tensions too. Catherine marries up. Heathcliff claws back. Everyone pays. Expect the film to treat the moors like a pressure cooker rather than a postcard.
This isn’t the first time Wuthering Heights has stalked theaters—far from it. The 1939 classic with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier turned the novel into a grand Hollywood romance. The 1992 version with Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes bent toward lush period melodrama. Andrea Arnold’s 2011 take made it raw, muddy, and tactile, with nontraditional casting that highlighted Heathcliff’s outsider status. Fennell seems to split the difference: elegant production values with an unsentimental edge.
Visually, the trailer teases high contrast—black skies, pale faces, and rooms carved out by candlelight. There’s a lived-in feel to the costumes and interiors, closer to damp wool than ballroom silk. It looks like a world where weather wins. Even when the camera moves indoors, the air feels cold.
The supporting ensemble should help ground the chaos. Latif can play control without bluster, which is crucial for Edgar. Chau is a quiet force; as Nelly, she can guide us through the wreckage without turning into a lecture. Oliver has a knack for nervous grace, a good fit for Isabella. If the film leans on Nelly’s perspective the way the novel does, it may frame the passion with a clear, wary eye.
Then there’s the production muscle. The film comes from Lie Still, LuckyChap Entertainment, and MRC Film, with Warner Bros. steering the release. LuckyChap, Robbie’s banner, backed Fennell on Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, and that familiarity matters. Fennell tends to get the freedom to commit to a mood and push characters to the brink. Studio period dramas don’t always allow that. This one appears to.
Beyond the love story, the book’s themes are a tight fit for 2026 audiences: class resentment, inherited wealth, and the humiliation that powers revenge. Brontë never made Heathcliff easy to like or Catherine easy to excuse. A faithful spirit today means refusing to sand down those edges. Expect rough choices and little hand-holding.
Release strategy and the road to 2026
The date says a lot. Wuthering Heights opens February 13, 2026—Valentine’s Day weekend. Studios love that corridor for high-emotion releases. The Vow (2012) and Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) turned that slot into a box office event by leaning on desire and conflict. This story has both, with a sharper bite. The darkness could widen the audience beyond date-night crowds.
Warner Bros. is rolling this out early with a first look two years ahead of time. That’s a slow-burn plan: plant the image now, then stoke it with a second trailer, a character teaser, and tight awards-festival positioning if the cut is ready. If the film lands with critics, it could cross from literary adaptation to mainstream drama fast.
It also fills a gap. The early-year calendar needs adult-focused dramas with star power. Robbie is coming off a global phenomenon with Barbie and a run of strong producer credits. Elordi has surged with prestige turns that broke past teen-tv typecasting. Put them together with a title everyone knows from school and you have a clean marketing hook.
What should viewers watch for next? A rating, for one. The trailer sells sensuality and violence without spelling it out, but the material leans intense. Music will matter too. A score that balances romance with dread can set the film apart from softer period pieces. And keep an eye on how heavily the campaign leans on the book. Literary diehards want fidelity; casual fans want a gripping romance. The sweet spot is honesty about how ugly this love can get.
Few novels have been argued over as fiercely as Wuthering Heights. Is it a love story or a warning? Fennell, Robbie, and Elordi are betting audiences are ready for both. The trailer doesn’t promise catharsis. It promises weather, wounds, and two people who can’t stop making the worst possible choice for each other—again and again.
