Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights 147 years ago, but even today the Cinema does not believe it has a definitive version. Apparently, every renowned actor has to play Hamlet and Heathcliff at some point in their career. The next? Jacob Elordi.

Jacob was announced, alongside Margot Robbie, to star in a new adaptation of the work, directed by the talented Emerald Fennell. The project is still in its early stages, but it generates discussion and expectation. After all, Emerald is, whether you like her films or not, one of the most interesting directors of the moment, with two films that won over audiences for their originality and boldness. Whether it’s the second season of Killing Eve, or the feature films Promising Young Woman – for which she won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay – and Saltburn, one of the biggest hits of 2023, the one thing we can’t deny is that she has humor, intelligence, and originality.

Are these necessary characteristics for a classic? Wuthering Heights is a work that continues to be studied and admired for its emotional complexity, narrative innovation, and profound impact on Western literature and is considered by many to be one of the great works of literature. A period film is something that makes the director curious.

Furthermore, I understand her fixation. The story is about the turbulent, obsessive, and unhealthy relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and the mysterious Heathcliff. Basically, two themes that Emerald loves to explore and the details of how she will work on this adaptation were not mentioned. In any case, now any project signed by her shakes up the industry.

I have a somewhat prejudiced curiosity that is the casting of Margot for the role of the complex Cathy. Not because of the actress’s lack of skill, imagine! but because in the book, Cathy is much younger than her. In fact, MUCH younger. She is only 18 when she dies (sorry for the spoiler if you haven’t read the book) and Margot is now 34. Jacob, who is 27, could fit the bill because Heathcliff reaches an advanced age, and he played a teenager in Euphoria.

Obviously, in none of the previous productions, this age issue was taken into consideration, especially because the depth and density of the feelings of the two protagonists, whose love is deep and eternal, but destructive, demanded an artistic maturity that perhaps older actors would have mastered more.

Margot Robbie‘s last film was the mega-hit Barbie and she is currently awaiting the birth of her first child. Before Wuthering Heights, she will be seen in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, scheduled for release in May 2025. Jacob Elordi is set to star in Guillermo del Toro‘s Frankenstein (another great literary classic).

Since Emerald is quick to move from writing to producing, once her leads are set, we can expect a release in late 2025 or early 2026. Of course, we’ll keep an eye out!

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