Although the newest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” won’t hit theaters until next year, fans of the 1847 novel are already expressing their opinions on this adaptation. The reason– paparazzi photos and casting. From the looks of lifelong fans, this adaptation will not perform well.
Director Emerald Fennell has cast Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie to be Heathcliff and Catherine, romantic lovers whose relationship is thwarted due to social expectations. Since the casting was announced in September 2024, fans immediately criticized the film, specifically the whitewashing of Heathcliff, who Brontë implies to be a non-white character in the novel. New paparazzi photos released in March 2025 further enraged fans due to historical anachronisms.
Over the years, there have been several different interpretations of Heathcliff’s ethnic and racial background, with many people believing that he comes from Romani, African, or South Asian origins. In the novel, Brontë does not specify his race, though, she suggests his race and ethnicity by refering to Heathcliff as a “dark-skinned gypsy”. She furthers this idea by revealing that he was staying in Liverpool as a child, which, at the time, would have operated as a port for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Hence, it becomes clear to readers that racial ambiguity is an important part of Heathcliff’s character, as it helps explain some of the prejudice and mistreatment inflicted on Heathcliff. Though it further entwines itself in the main plot of the novel, as it is evident that Heathcliff’s passionate love for Catherine is undermined due to that racial ambiguity. With many literary cues further pushing this idea of racial ambiguity on Heathcliff, it is no wonder that fans are enraged about the casting, as Jacob Elordi is white.
The casting came under fire again when Deadline reported last November that Shazad Latif was cast as Edgar Linton, an aristocrat, and Hong Chau as Nelly, who is a housekeeper. Both Edgar and Nelly discriminated against and abused Heathcliff throughout the book. Hence, selecting Latif, who is part Pakistani, and Chau, who is Vietnamese, brought another wave of criticism towards the movie. Fans slammed this decision to put the adaptations’ only actors of color in antagonist roles, which were originally predominantly white.
In March 2025, paparazzi photos captured Robbie on the set of “Wuthering Heights”. The photos show Robbie in a wedding dress, perhaps in the midst of a wedding scene. Robbie is wearing a white wedding gown, with a long veil, a tiara, and a bridal bouquet. Fans were quick to point out the inaccuracies compared to the novel, as Robbie was seen with her signature blonde hair while the novel describes her character as having dark-brown hair. Others disliked how anachronistic Catherine’s wedding dress was. The wedding dress in the photos was white, though white dresses did not become popular until the Victorian era, which didn’t occur until decades after the novel. They furthered this complaint by deriding the inclusion of glitter on the wedding dress, which wasn’t invented until 1934.
Overall, many fans conclude that this adaptation is not going to meet the standards of the novel. Many say that this gothic novel has never gotten a book-accurate adaptation of the tragedy, which is what makes this adaptation already appear very disappointing.