Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
“Horrendous And Insulting”: Backlash Erupts Over “Misrepresentation” In 2026 Wuthering Heights
Interview With ExpertEver since the trailer for the upcoming remake of Emily Brontë’s classic Wuthering Heights dropped in September 2025, it sparked a heated backlash online.
The latest remake features some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the lead roles.
Netizens criticized the film’s casting choice for its “misrepresentation,” highlighting major adaptation issues, including whitewashing and the overly “erotic” portrayal of the beloved text.
Highlights
- The 2026 Wuthering Heights trailer faced heavy criticism online for casting older actors like Margot Robbie and whitewashing Heathcliff’s character.
- Critics also slammed the use of modern music and fashion, as well as the overtly erotic portrayal of the leads’ relationship.
- Victorian literature experts defended the adaptation, noting that “diverse casting” and “modernization” are common in classic literary films.
- “It's just a book. That is not based on real life. It's all art,” said the film’s casting director in defense of her decision.
“I will be complaining about Wuthering Heights for the foreseeable future as the very existence of a white Heathcliff offends me,” commented one social media user.
BP Daily - Your Source for Unbiased Reporting
The new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights is set to release in theaters ahead of Valentine’s Day 2026
Image credits: IMDB
Emerald Fennell, known for briefly starring in hit films like Barbie and directing Saltburn, both released in 2023, is the director of the adaptation of the 1847 Gothic novel.
Notably, Margot starred in Barbie, while Jacob appeared in Saltburn.
In the upcoming movie, the 35-year-old actress will grace the big screens as Catherine Earnshaw, with Elordi portraying Heathcliff.
The minute-and-a-half trailer showcased a provocative relationship between the two leads, set against the backdrop of Charli XCX’s Everything Is Romantic from her 2024 album Brat.
Image credits: Warner Bros./YouTube
Social media users expressed displeasure over the casting of white actors, the use of modern music and fashion, and the overtly “erotic” portrayal of Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship, which is only “subtextual in the novel.”
Judging by the short clip, many felt that the upcoming film was not “a modernisation, [but] it’s a misrepresentation.”
One user criticized the trailer, writing, “Heathcliff is not white… Catherine is supposed to be a teenager at OLDEST, and Wuthering Heights is not some booktok erotica bulls**t.”
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, respectively, in the upcoming film
Image credits: Warner Bros./YouTube
Shedding light on why the filmmakers might have made the changes in the adaptation, Professor Thomas Leitch, a Professor of English at the University of Delaware, shared with Bored Panda that “literal adaptations of classic novels are exceedingly rare, maybe impossible.”
According to the Professor, as filmmaking involves significant money at stake, “most filmmakers are a lot more interested in making money, or at least not losing money, than in remaining faithful to a novel that’s over 150 years old.”
Image credits: chappellbrina
“The s**ual implications of the trailer certainly make it seem to promise that the film it heralds will be more s**ually provocative than Brontë’s novel. But these implications don’t stand out from those of hundreds of other movie trailers… Some audiences have a greater appetite for provocation than others.”
With Fennell’s modernization choices and her name prominently featured in the trailer credits, it’s clear the film is designed to resonate with contemporary audiences rather than “Brontë’s original audience.”
“Filmmakers probably wouldn’t be making another Victorian period movie if they didn’t think the material already had some relevance to modern audiences,” Professor Leitch added.
The 2026 film faced intense criticism from fans of the original text, who labeled it a “whitewashed romance”
Image credits: Warner Bros./YouTube
Beyond the evident changes made to Brontë’s novel, many fans voiced disappointment over the casting of older actors, particularly Robbie, who portrays Catherine Earnshaw, a character originally described as 18 in the book.
One critic wrote, “Margot Robbie 40 years old playing a character that d**s at 18… and pasty Jacob Elordi with original music by Charli XCX… BURN IT TO THE GROUND.”
However, Victorian literature expert Monica Cohen, a Term Lecturer in the Department of English at Columbia University, dismissed the ageism backlash, telling Bored Panda that Robbie’s casting was fitting.
Image credits: Warner Bros./YouTube
“Today’s Margot Robbie probably looks a lot closer to a Victorian eighteen-year-old than to a Victorian thirty-five-year-old!”
Professor Leitch echoed this sentiment, pointing out that casting older actors to play younger roles has been a Hollywood practice for “a hundred years.”
“Most audiences have grown so accustomed to this practice that the ones who complain about it even before a film is released may just be looking to pick a fight with the newcomer.”
Literature experts straight-up dismissed the ageism backlash over Margot’s casting, stressing that the choice was right on point
Image credits: Warner Bros./YouTube
Image credits: Sky TV/YouTube
Defending her casting choice, the film’s casting director,Kharmel Cochrane, recently said during a public interview that casting “really doesn’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book.”
“That is not based on real life. It’s all art,” she added.
However, while experts had no issue with 35-year-old Robbie’s role, Elordi’s casting was widely regarded as a “missed opportunity.”
Professor Cohen noted that Heathcliff was originally from “Liverpool, a city historically connected to the African slave trade, so scholars have speculated that he could be literally Black.”
@itsyourfilmsis Why the quotation marks? 👀 I have a theory… Drop your thoughts on Emerald Fennell’s new “Wuthering Heights” trailer in the comments below! #wutheringheights#wutheringheightstrailer#booktok#movie#theories @Wuthering Heights Movie @Warner Bros Pictures @Warner Bros. ♬ A.Vivaldi The Four Season, Summer Presto; Tempo Impetuoso – AllMusicGallery
“That he is clearly represented in the novel as somehow other opens up all sorts of interesting casting options, so Elodi seems like a missed opportunity.”
“So they made Heathcliff white… It’s truly horrendous & insulting to the source material,” commented one user online.
Meanwhile, in contrast to a white actor playing Heathcliff, Pakistani-British actor Shahzad Latif has been cast as “the novel’s white, blonde, and rich Edgar Linton.”
Casting director Kharmel Cochrane defended her decision, stressing that Wuthering Heights “is just a book” and not “real life”
Image credits: Vanity Fair/YouTube
Professor Leitch described it as a “conscious choice,” perhaps intended to “provoke audiences into challenging their assumptions about the relations between race, s**uality, social status, and power,” or simply as an example of “race-blind casting.”
Meanwhile, Professor Cohen appeared satisfied with the overall “diverse casting.”
“Those works allow many of the values and aspirations of the period (if not their realities) to achieve representation and allow us to imagine ourselves in these iconic works. I have no problem with diverse casting, even if it is not always historically accurate or loyal to the novel.”
Image credits: Warner Bros./YouTube
According to a theory by content creator Jamie McAleney, shared shortly after watching the trailer, the film’s title was in “quotation marks.”
Jamie shared in a TikTok videothat she thinks the remake is not a word-for-word adaptation of the novel but instead will portray Margot as “just a fellow yearner, like us, dissociating and daydreaming of her Heathcliff as a way to escape her normal life.”
How accurate her theory is remains to be seen, as the film is scheduled for release in theaters in the United States and the United Kingdom on February 13, 2025.
Watch the controversial trailer here:
Image credits: Warner Bros./YouTube
“I hope filmmakers in the future are interested in doing more faithful, less provocative adaptations of classic literature,” expressed one disappointed netizen
Poll Question
Total votes ·
Thanks! Check out the results:
Total votes ·
Newsletter
Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls
By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.
Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
UKGrandad 2 months ago (edited)
And here we go again with the Army of the Perpetually Outraged. Nowhere in Brontë's novel, which - and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - is the only source material for the story - is it even suggested that Heathcliffe was black. The closest the book comes to mentioning his racial origins is a passage in which he, an orphan boy brought to Wuthering Heights from Liverpool, is described as being 'like a g***y', but given the attitudes of the Victorian era that could have meant a lot of things. The idea that he may have been black stems from academic studies in the late 20th. Century, in which there are several differing interpretations putting Heathcliffe as: a runaway sláve boy who stowed away on a ship to England: an American boy of no specified race who did the same: an Indian boy sailing with Indian militia who jumped ship in Liverpool: a Spanish stowaway: an Irish runaway: a g***y boy. All of these are guesses based on the same text and are centred on the boy being found by Earnshaw in Liverpool, one of England's major shipping towns at the time; the assumption being that he came to England as a stowaway. That overlooks the fact that Liverpool had a huge, impoverished population in line with every industrialised urban centre at that time, with workhouses, orphanages and the streets overflowing with orphans, runaways and unwanted children. But, no, somebody has seen it suggested that Heathcliffe may have been black, 'may have been' has quickly morphed into 'was', nobody thought to actually read the book and the virtue-signallers have been let loose.
Bailey 2 months ago
There are a couple of sections which suggest he is darker skinned (as in he may have Mediterranean, middle eastern or Indian origins). He is described as a "dark skinned g***y", and other characters speculate if he could be originally from Spain or a Lascar.
Load More Replies...
Mrs.C 2 months ago
This is in my top 3 favorite books and the trailer makes me break out in hives. I have no issue with modern music, but this casting is horrendous. Heathcliff was a "dark-skinned G***y in aspect," and both were very young- Catherine dies at 18. Edgar is delicate and blonde...I realize casting won't always be spot on physically, but these traits are very important in the novel. And the 3r0tic filming? UGH. Can we stop trying to make everything spicy BookTok? This work of art has stood on it's own for nearly 200 years. It doesn't need to be made relevant. Madness and unrequited love is always relevent.
Nova Rook 2 months ago
This is the one book I couldn't finish. Started it twice, did maybe a 1/4 the first time and 1/3 the second time. I know, I know, it's my fault and it's considered great literature but it was just waaaay too much. That in mind, I sometimes feel tempted to go at it again just to beat this beast.
Load More Replies...
Virgil Blue 2 months ago
Romeo and Julia worked because they used the old text over current fashion and devices. It gave the music an interesting original take on a classic. But saying it's just a book and its all art makes me wonder why he used the name of the book as his movies title anyway if its that far from the source?
UKGrandad 2 months ago (edited)
And here we go again with the Army of the Perpetually Outraged. Nowhere in Brontë's novel, which - and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - is the only source material for the story - is it even suggested that Heathcliffe was black. The closest the book comes to mentioning his racial origins is a passage in which he, an orphan boy brought to Wuthering Heights from Liverpool, is described as being 'like a g***y', but given the attitudes of the Victorian era that could have meant a lot of things. The idea that he may have been black stems from academic studies in the late 20th. Century, in which there are several differing interpretations putting Heathcliffe as: a runaway sláve boy who stowed away on a ship to England: an American boy of no specified race who did the same: an Indian boy sailing with Indian militia who jumped ship in Liverpool: a Spanish stowaway: an Irish runaway: a g***y boy. All of these are guesses based on the same text and are centred on the boy being found by Earnshaw in Liverpool, one of England's major shipping towns at the time; the assumption being that he came to England as a stowaway. That overlooks the fact that Liverpool had a huge, impoverished population in line with every industrialised urban centre at that time, with workhouses, orphanages and the streets overflowing with orphans, runaways and unwanted children. But, no, somebody has seen it suggested that Heathcliffe may have been black, 'may have been' has quickly morphed into 'was', nobody thought to actually read the book and the virtue-signallers have been let loose.
Bailey 2 months ago
There are a couple of sections which suggest he is darker skinned (as in he may have Mediterranean, middle eastern or Indian origins). He is described as a "dark skinned g***y", and other characters speculate if he could be originally from Spain or a Lascar.
Load More Replies... Mrs.C 2 months ago
This is in my top 3 favorite books and the trailer makes me break out in hives. I have no issue with modern music, but this casting is horrendous. Heathcliff was a "dark-skinned G***y in aspect," and both were very young- Catherine dies at 18. Edgar is delicate and blonde...I realize casting won't always be spot on physically, but these traits are very important in the novel. And the 3r0tic filming? UGH. Can we stop trying to make everything spicy BookTok? This work of art has stood on it's own for nearly 200 years. It doesn't need to be made relevant. Madness and unrequited love is always relevent.
Nova Rook 2 months ago
This is the one book I couldn't finish. Started it twice, did maybe a 1/4 the first time and 1/3 the second time. I know, I know, it's my fault and it's considered great literature but it was just waaaay too much. That in mind, I sometimes feel tempted to go at it again just to beat this beast.
Load More Replies... Virgil Blue 2 months ago
Romeo and Julia worked because they used the old text over current fashion and devices. It gave the music an interesting original take on a classic. But saying it's just a book and its all art makes me wonder why he used the name of the book as his movies title anyway if its that far from the source?
You May Like "A Nightmare": Fans React To Millie Bobby Brown’s Story About How She Started Dating Jake Bongiovi “‘Genes’ Are Fine!”: Michelle Obama’s Casual Look With Ultra-Long Hair Is Breaking The Internet "Child Actors End Up Becoming Terrible Adult Actors": Stranger Things Star Brutally Slammed For His Performance In New Season
Lei RV
Lei RV
Analice Couto
Related on Bored Panda
-12
52