- 5 weeks ago
Prepare to return to the windswept moors, but not as you remember them! We're diving into Emerald Fennell's highly anticipated 2026 film adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" and uncovering all the startling deviations from Emily Bronte's gothic masterpiece. From controversial casting choices like Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, to major plot overhauls, discover how this new vision reinterprets a classic.
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00:00I mean, this is a bold adaptation of a classic novel.
00:04It's nothing like what we've seen on the page.
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:08And today, we're discussing the differences between Emily Bronte's classic gothic novel, Wuthering Heights,
00:14and Emerald Fennell's much-talked-about 2026 adaptation.
00:17And yes, there are a lot of differences.
00:20We'll be mentioning major plot points, so if you're planning to watch the movie or read the book spoiler-free,
00:26then go do that first and then come back.
00:28It just felt right to say it's Wuthering Heights, and it isn't.
00:33You know, it's...
00:35Kathy and Heathcliff don't look like that.
00:37When Emerald Fennell announced that her new adaptation of Wuthering Heights would star Australian actors Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi,
00:44the internet lost its collective mind.
00:46And not in a good way.
00:47Aside from some concern about the accents and Robbie's blonde hair,
00:51the main criticism centered around Margot Robbie's age and Jacob Elordi's ethnicity.
00:56Yeah, who of it?
00:57Sorry, don't let them in.
00:59They're not on the list.
01:00They're not on the list.
01:01There you are.
01:01That's fine.
01:02We know.
01:03We know.
01:03That's how it goes now.
01:04That's Hollywood.
01:05Kathy's age.
01:06In the novel, when Kathy's father, Mr. Earnshaw, brings Heathcliff home to Wuthering Heights,
01:10she is just six years old.
01:13By the time Heathcliff runs away, Kathy is 15 and she dies four years later.
01:18Kathy, my love.
01:19Wake up.
01:22Can you hear me?
01:23Wake up.
01:23Look at me.
01:24In the 2026 film, Kathy is played by a 34-year-old Margot Robbie, while Jacob Elordi was 27 at
01:31the time of filming.
01:32However, it's not unusual for more mature, established actors to be cast in teenage roles.
01:36How can you stand here beside me and pretend not to remember?
01:43Not to know that my heart is breaking for you.
01:45Lawrence Olivier was 32 when he played Heathcliff in the 1939 Hollywood movie,
01:50and Richard Burton played the role in a TV adaptation at 33.
01:54In fact, the only notable version of the story to star actual teenagers is Andrea Arnold's film from 2011.
02:00It's also unfair, but unsurprising, that Robbie seems to be attracting most of the age-based criticism,
02:07when Elordi is also much older than his character.
02:09In defense of her choice to cast the Aussie actress,
02:12director Emerald Fennell told The Guardian that the role, quote,
02:15needed somebody like Margot, who's a star, not just an incredible actress.
02:20It's a dredgeful day when Margot Robbie, the greatest actress in the world,
02:24the most beautiful woman in the world, forces herself upon him in the manner that she did.
02:29Heathcliff's ethnicity.
02:31The casting of Jacob Elordi was an even more contentious decision.
02:35Heathcliff is described in the book as dark-haired, dark-eyed, and dark-skinned.
02:39But on film, the character has most often been played by a white man.
02:43The 2011 adaptation was the first English-language film to cast a non-white Heathcliff, James Housen.
02:48You must have some stories to tell.
02:52Stories?
02:54Well, you've been gone a while.
02:58You changed.
03:00We're all wondering.
03:01Some people argue that Heathcliff, who was found in the Liverpool docks,
03:05may have been of mixed-race African heritage, or even a dark-featured Irish foundling.
03:11From the book's description, he's ethnically ambiguous, but most likely Romani,
03:15an ethnic group who are thought to originate from northern India.
03:18The character Lockwood calls Heathcliff dark-skinned,
03:21while Linton's father, also not in the film, describes him as, quote,
03:25a little Lasker, or an American or Spanish castaway.
03:28A Lasker was a term for a sailor of Indian or Asian descent.
03:32Meanwhile, Nellie tells young Heathcliff at one point, quote,
03:35Who knows, but your father was emperor of China and your mother an Indian queen.
03:39Whatever he is, he's almost certainly not white.
03:42Let me see.
03:46Look at you.
03:47You're a prince.
03:49Casting director Carmel Cochran has taken a colorblind casting approach to Wuthering Heights,
03:53not just with Olorty, but also with other characters, including Edgar Linton,
03:57who is played by Shahzad Lateef, and Nellie Dean, who is portrayed by Hong Chao.
04:02I normally read everything, because I've done projects that have been adaptations of plays,
04:11of graphic novels, of novels, and I usually do always read the book beforehand,
04:17but I just found that it always ends up being so different.
04:21Cochran argues that the source material, quote,
04:24is just a book that's not based on real life.
04:27It's all art.
04:28Meanwhile, director Emerald Fennell has said that Jacob Olorty, quote,
04:31looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff on the first book that she read.
04:35I think the thing is, is everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it.
04:40And so you can only ever kind of make the movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read
04:49it.
04:52A major decision for anyone adapting Wuthering Heights is whether to include the narrator,
04:57Lockwood, and the next generation of Lintons, Heathcliff's, and Earnshaw's.
05:01Thank you for your hospitality.
05:04Could you extend it to a cup of tea?
05:08Shall I?
05:09You've heard him ask for it.
05:11Emily Bronte's novel begins with a young man named Lockwood,
05:14arriving at Mr. Heathcliff's windswept home on the moors,
05:17where he meets Catherine's daughter and is visited by the ghost of Cathy Sr.
05:21He returns to Thrushcross Grange, where he's lodging as Heathcliff's tenant,
05:25and there is told the tragic family story by the housekeeper Nellie Dean.
05:29Maybe you'd know as I do,
05:31that there is a force that brings them back,
05:35if their hearts were wild enough in life.
05:38The tale wraps up with Cathy's untimely death,
05:41and then the story returns to the next generation,
05:43where we see the conclusion of Heathcliff's decades-long revenge plan,
05:46and finally his death.
05:48The book ends on a hopeful note,
05:50with a love story for the next generation.
05:52And the price.
05:55Three graves.
05:57By a low war.
05:59Where the churchyard meets the open law.
06:01The 1939 movie features Lockwood,
06:03and the 2009 miniseries includes The Next Generation,
06:07but Andrea Arnold's film dispenses with both.
06:09Peter Kaminsky's 1992 movie, starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche,
06:14and a 1978 BBC miniseries,
06:17are the only notable examples to include both Lockwood and the second half of the book.
06:22Her face.
06:24She looked like...
06:28You should not have gone in there.
06:30Fennell, like Arnold, has abandoned the whole framing device,
06:33focusing on the love story at the core of the novel instead.
06:36When Cathy dies, so does her child,
06:39leaving no next generation to follow.
06:41Since he's never returned since she left,
06:46may she wake Hanley in the other world.
06:48May she wake in agony.
06:50It's an understandable decision,
06:51but it means that we miss out on many of Heathcliff's most unhinged moments,
06:56including his disturbance of Cathy's grave.
06:58We also lose that iconic scene with Cathy's ghost,
07:01made most famous by the Kate Bush song.
07:03It's me, it's me, Cathy,
07:07I can't come back, so cry.
07:11What happened to Hindley?
07:12The most surprising difference for fans of the book going into the new film
07:16might just be the exclusion of Catherine's brother, Hindley Earnshaw.
07:20Nothing here belongs to you.
07:23Not now.
07:24Not ever.
07:25In the novel, Hindley is a pivotal character
07:28and the catalyst for most of Heathcliff and Cathy's unhappiness.
07:32After Mr. Earnshaw's death,
07:34it's Hindley who removes Heathcliff, Cinderella style,
07:37from the status of favored adopted son
07:39and makes him live as a servant.
07:41You're not wanted up there.
07:44My father's past you, old Wheatley.
07:46Go and help the stable boys harness the horse for the vicar.
07:51Do as you're told.
07:52I'm master here now.
07:54He encourages the relationship between Cathy and Edgar Linton,
07:57and when Hindley's wife dies,
07:58he takes to drinking and gambling,
08:00becoming a violent, volatile presence,
08:02and, for a while, the novel's main antagonist.
08:05It's Hindley who makes the heights
08:07into the kind of place that Cathy wants to escape,
08:09and who Heathcliff spends most of his life
08:12desperate to wreak his revenge upon.
08:14It's also Hindley's son, Harriton,
08:16who falls in love with Catherine Jr.,
08:18and finally gives the novel some semblance of a happy ending.
08:22I thought we could be friends,
08:26even though you'll be ashamed of me.
08:28I will not be.
08:31I think I would like a friend.
08:33In Fennell's film, there is no Hindley.
08:35Here, Catherine Earnshaw's father,
08:37who has previously always been depicted
08:39as a benevolent figure,
08:40is the stand-in antagonist,
08:42a drinker who brings the family to ruin,
08:44played with gusto by Martin Clunes.
08:47Clunes' version of Mr. Earnshaw
08:48is a well-realized character,
08:50but he's just not in the book.
08:52Mr. Earnshaw is a drunken,
08:55misogynist,
08:56nasty,
08:58playful,
08:59meddlesome,
09:00ultimately ghastly.
09:01Nellie and Joseph
09:02Like Mr. Earnshaw,
09:04housekeeper Nellie is also
09:06a less sympathetic character in this new film.
09:08In the novel,
09:09she's a family servant
09:10who's present for all of Catherine and Heathcliff's
09:12trials and tribulations.
09:13She also narrates their story to Lockwood.
09:16The falling snow shaped itself
09:17into what looked like a phantom.
09:20It was nothing.
09:22It was Cathy.
09:25Who is Cathy?
09:27A girl
09:29who died.
09:31In most adaptations,
09:32she's depicted as the benevolent,
09:34long-suffering housekeeper.
09:36In the 2026 film,
09:37she's closer to Cathy's age,
09:39which is true to the book,
09:40but she's been turned into a lady's companion
09:42and somebody's illegitimate child.
09:44It's not clear who's.
09:46I mean, did you know that she said
09:47that Nellie was one of the hardest characters
09:49to write?
09:50She did.
09:50She told me that during the first meeting,
09:52and so I'm always happy to try anything.
09:58You know, let's just play and figure it out.
10:01In the absence of Hindley as an antagonist,
10:03Nellie is cast in a villainous light
10:05for letting Heathcliff overhear Cathy's marriage plans.
10:08Cathy later discovers this
10:09and tries to turn her out of the Grange,
10:11causing Nellie to turn traitor.
10:13So maybe Nellie is an unreliable narrator,
10:16but in a book full of sociopaths,
10:18sheltered snobs,
10:19and violent abusers,
10:20Nellie, although not a saint,
10:22is fairly blameless compared to everyone else.
10:25At the end of the day,
10:26she's a servant
10:26and not responsible for the bad decisions
10:29of the people who employ her.
10:30I remember when this house
10:31was full of the sound of laughter,
10:33Miss Dringley.
10:35Now there's nothing but bitterness and hatred.
10:38Another servant who's very different
10:39in the new film is Joseph.
10:41Book readers will remember
10:42this particular character
10:43as a crotchety, hypocritical old man servant,
10:46with dialogue written in a dialect so thick
10:48that you might have to skip a lot of it.
10:50Book Joseph loves to preach hellfire and damnation
10:54and seems to enjoy seeing people suffer.
10:56Joseph in the 2026 film
10:57is young, friendly,
10:59and a different kind of sadist.
11:01He's not a bad guy,
11:02just enjoys a bit of S&M in his leisure time.
11:05And he's a heartbreaking character.
11:06He's a heartbreaking, brilliant.
11:08In the movie,
11:09yeah, in the movie,
11:10Emerald will make your heart
11:11break for Joseph.
11:12To see him as a real person, yeah.
11:13And in the book,
11:14you're just like,
11:14oh, Joseph!
11:16Isabella.
11:16But Joseph isn't the only one
11:18with some interesting sexual preferences.
11:20Isabella Linton, in the book,
11:22is Edgar's naive little sister,
11:24not his ward as in the movie.
11:26When Kathy tells her
11:27that Heathcliff is cruel
11:28and could never love her,
11:30Isabella doesn't believe a word.
11:32Isabella likes you more than me,
11:33it seems.
11:37Don't go.
11:41Heathcliff, could you ask Kathy
11:42to let me go?
11:43She's not eaten in two days.
11:45She's lovesick.
11:47Ah!
11:50What a tiger.
11:51In the 2026 film,
11:53Heathcliff tells Isabella outright
11:54that he loves Kathy
11:55and will marry her
11:56only to make his true love jealous.
11:58And Isabella consents.
12:00I think a lot of all of the things
12:02that Isabella does,
12:03you know, like,
12:03I will make you, like,
12:05a doll.
12:06Like, I'll do everything
12:07so you have no reason
12:08not to love me.
12:09Like, I think every,
12:10the love is at the center
12:12of everything,
12:13I think, for Isabella.
12:14What follows
12:14is a sadomasochistic relationship
12:16that Isabella is totally into.
12:18It works as a device
12:19to make this Heathcliff
12:20less of a monster,
12:21but it's also not in the book.
12:23She's very much figuring out
12:25what her expectations are
12:27or should be
12:28of a husband
12:29whilst it's happening
12:31because she hasn't had
12:33someone to confide in
12:35or speak to it about.
12:37So she's working
12:38from a place of survival.
12:39Sex versus violence.
12:41The trailer did warn us
12:42that this Wuthering Heights
12:43was going to be sexier
12:44than usual.
12:45And from the opening moments,
12:47you know you're going to be in
12:48for something a little different.
12:50Suggestive creaks and groans
12:51turn out to be
12:52the sounds of a hanging.
12:53But in general,
12:54this is a much less violent story
12:56than the one told
12:56by Emily Bronte.
12:57When I first read the book,
12:59I was,
13:00I cried a lot
13:02and you know,
13:03I was disturbed
13:04and I was aroused.
13:06It was,
13:07it was such an extreme,
13:08it's such an extremely
13:11visceral thing.
13:12Fennell has ramped up the sex,
13:14but the violence
13:15is toned down.
13:16For example,
13:17in the film,
13:17we hear Heathcliff
13:18being beaten
13:19by Mr. Earnshaw.
13:20But we don't see Heathcliff
13:21hang Isabella's dog
13:22by the neck,
13:23repeatedly dash
13:24Hindley's head
13:25against the floor
13:26or savagely beat
13:27his own son
13:28and Kathy's
13:2816-year-old daughter.
13:30Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff
13:31is a lover,
13:32not a fighter.
13:33What should you do,
13:34Heathcliff?
13:35What?
13:35If you were rich.
13:37Suppose I'd do
13:38what all rich men do.
13:41Live in a big house.
13:44I'm going to be cruel
13:45to my servants.
13:48Take a wife.
13:49In the new adaptation,
13:50Heathcliff and Kathy's
13:51love story is still toxic,
13:52but it plays out differently.
13:54The major change
13:55is that when Heathcliff
13:56returns,
13:57the pair embarks
13:58on a physical affair
13:59which Kathy
14:00eventually calls off.
14:01And only then
14:02does he marry Isabella.
14:03Although it's been alluded
14:05to in previous
14:05screen versions,
14:06there's no mention
14:07of Kathy and Heathcliff
14:08ever having a physical
14:09relationship in the book.
14:11In fact,
14:11they barely even kiss.
14:13I forbid it.
14:14Do you forbid
14:15what your heart
14:15is saying to me?
14:16Saying nothing.
14:17It is,
14:18I can hear it louder
14:18than the music.
14:20Oh, Kathy.
14:22Kathy.
14:22I'm not the Kathy
14:24that was.
14:24Can you understand that?
14:25This could have been
14:26to protect Victorian sensibilities
14:28or because of the possibility
14:29that Heathcliff could be
14:30Mr. Earnshaw's bastard child.
14:32Or maybe it's that
14:33Emily Bronte's characters
14:34are just not that
14:35concerned with sex.
14:37Their intense connection
14:38is based on their minds
14:39and their souls.
14:40And they have other motivations
14:41that seem to drive them
14:42more than physical passion,
14:44especially in Heathcliff's case.
14:45The chief among them
14:46being anger,
14:47spite,
14:48jealousy,
14:49hatred,
14:49and revenge.
14:51Hold me then.
14:54I know that ghosts
14:55have wandered the earth.
14:58Be with me always.
15:00Take any form.
15:04Drive me mad.
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15:21So how's the historical accuracy?
15:23Bronte's novel is set
15:24in the late 1700s
15:26and early 1800s
15:27and was published in 1847.
15:30The 2026 film
15:31sees historical accuracy
15:32go out the window,
15:34only borrowing elements
15:35from the period
15:35that work for
15:36Emerald Fennell's
15:37creative vision.
15:38It's not Regency-era Yorkshire,
15:40but it is a fantastically
15:41realized world.
15:42When you see
15:43the Wuthering Heights set too,
15:44you can appreciate
15:45it almost like lives
15:46and breathes
15:47and the landscape
15:48encroaches in on the set
15:50in a way that's just
15:51fascinating and artistic
15:52and cool.
15:53But it's quite harsh.
15:54It's a lot of brutalist
15:55sort of elements
15:56and it's a lot darker.
15:58And of course,
15:58when you come to these sets,
15:59everything's so bright
16:00and it's just meant
16:02to be a great juxtaposition.
16:03It's big and bold
16:04and a total fever dream.
16:06From the old Hollywood-inspired
16:08sound stages
16:08of the Heights
16:09and the Grange
16:10to the costumes,
16:11which draw from influences
16:12as wide-ranging
16:13as Elizabethan paintings,
16:15Hollywood period costume
16:16and modern contemporary fashion.
16:19In our version,
16:20Edgar Linton
16:21is an extraordinarily rich
16:23textiles manufacturer.
16:25And so it was sort of
16:26looking always at textiles
16:27that are slightly
16:28out of their time
16:29to have that slight feeling
16:30of he's sort of bringing
16:31the future in
16:32to this sort of ancient world.
16:34Aside from the stylized
16:35costumes and sets,
16:36the Emerald Fennell vibes
16:37are heightened
16:38by the modern soundtrack.
16:39With a score
16:40by Saltburne's Adam Willis
16:41and new songs
16:42by Charlie XCX.
16:48Fennell,
16:48who is a big fan
16:49of the book
16:50and has read it
16:51multiple times,
16:52wanted to create
16:52her own version
16:53of Wuthering Heights,
16:54hence the quotation marks
16:56around the title,
16:57reflecting the way
16:57the book made her feel
16:59when she read it
16:59for the first time
17:00at 14.
17:01There was,
17:02there's a version
17:02that I remembered reading
17:04that isn't quite real.
17:05And there's a version
17:06that I,
17:07um,
17:08where there's a version
17:09where I wanted stuff
17:10to happen
17:11that never happened.
17:13Maybe there are
17:14more differences
17:15than similarities,
17:16but every adaptation
17:17of the story so far
17:18has had its own style
17:19and diverged
17:20from the novel
17:21in different ways.
17:22The 2026 adaptation
17:23does hang on
17:24to some elements
17:25and themes
17:26of the original
17:26and lots of the dialogue
17:28is taken verbatim
17:29from the book,
17:30although sometimes used
17:31in a different context.
17:33Overall, though,
17:33this movie is a new,
17:35vibrant take
17:35that will divide fans
17:37and critics alike.
17:38It's definitely different.
17:40So kiss me again.
17:45And let us both be done.
17:46Is the new film
17:47a fun,
17:48unconventional twist
17:48on a classic?
17:49Or does it diverge
17:51too far from the book
17:52to be an enjoyable adaptation?
17:53Let us know
17:54in the comments.
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