Margot Robbie has revealed Emerald Fennell’s ambitious hopes for their upcoming collaboration, the already-divisive adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Directed by Fennell, starring Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, with Robbie also producing under her LuckyChap banner, Wuthering Heights will release theatrically on February 13, 2026.
However, the Wuthering Heights trailer has already prompted backlash, revealing some sexualized elements that do not align with the famous source material. Additionally, Wuthering Heights’ casting has been controversial due to Robbie being said to be too old for the part, and more seriously, Heathcliff being whitewashed with Elordi in the role.
In British Vogue‘s recent cover story, Robbie revealed some of her own thoughts and stories about this version of Wuthering Heights. She shared that early on, when she met with Fennell, she asked what the Promising Young Woman and Saltburn director’s expectations were. Fennell hoped that it would be “this generation’s Titanic,” or comparable to another romance genre milestone.
Check out Robbie’s full account below:
In one of our first conversations about this film, I asked Emerald what her dream outcome was. She said, “I want this to be this generation’s Titanic. I went to the cinema to watch Romeo & Juliet eight times and I was on the ground crying when I wasn’t allowed to go back for a ninth. I want it to be that.”
Slightly more modest, Robbie herself suggested she hopes this could be the return of the big, romantic hit, saying: “This is a big epic romance. It’s just been so long since we’ve had one — maybe The Notebook, also The English Patient.“ She also said that the movie’s “raunchy” elements, such a point of contention in reaction to the trailers, will not be what people expect.
Check out Robbie’s additional comments below:
Everyone’s expecting this to be very, very raunchy. I think people will be surprised. Not to say there aren’t sexual elements and that it’s not provocative — it definitely is provocative — but it’s more romantic than provocative. […] [About discussing the intimate scenes with Fennell] “What reads to us as hot or exciting or sexy?” And it’s not just a sex position or someone taking their shirt off. It was the little things that we loved as two women in our 30s, and this movie is primarily for people in our demographic. These epic romances and period pieces aren’t often made by women.
Written by Emily Brontë, the classic novel Wuthering Heights follows the tempestuous relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff, the latter an orphan taken in by the former’s family, set against the backdrop of the West Yorkshire moors. It is considered a seminal piece of literature in the Gothic and romance genres, alongside the works of the other Brontë sisters.
The cast of Fennell’s Wuthering Heights also includes Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Hong Chau, Ewan Mitchell, and Shazad Latif. While Robbie’s iconic status is long cemented, this will be her first movie released since her flop A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, while it may be coming after a 2026 Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Elordi in Frankenstein.
Fennell has defended her main casting choices for Wuthering Heights, as well as its more sensual tone, while others have attempted to hype up the movie’s approach. However, when many will stand by the deviations from the source material being to the detriment of the story’s most important themes, Wuthering Heights has too much going against it to ever live up to Titanic.
- Release Date
-
February 13, 2026
- Director
-
Emerald Fennell
- Writers
-
Emerald Fennell
