Release date set for Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights

Oscar-winner Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of classic gothic romance Wuthering Heights has been given a 2026 release date.

Barbie actress Margot Robbie and Euphoria star Jacob Elordi are reported to be leading the cast as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff in the adaption of Emily Bronte’s 1847 classic novel, based on the Yorkshire moors.

Fennell previously directed Australian star Elordi in the 2023 film Saltburn, with Robbie acting as co-producer on the project.

On Friday, Warner Brothers shared a Wuthering Heights graphic on social media confirming its release date as Valentine’s Day 2026.

In July, The Crown actress Fennell announced her plans to adapt Wuthering Heights as her third feature film – reprising her partnership with Robbie’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment.

The 39-year-old shared a graphic featuring a line from the novel which read: “Be with me always, take any form, drive me mad” in the surprise social media announcement.

It came months after Fennell revealed her passion for the gothic genre in a column for the Los Angeles Times, published in January this year.

“I’ve always been obsessed with the gothic,” she wrote.

“Whether it was Edward Gorey’s children who are variously choked by peaches, sucked dry by leeches or smothered by rugs; Du Maurier’s imperiled heroines or the disturbing erotic power of Angela Carter’s fairy tales, the gothic world has always had me in its grip.

“It’s a genre where comedy and horror, revulsion and desire, sex and death are forever entwined, where every exchange is heavy with the threat of violence, or sex or both.”

Fennell won an Oscar in 2021 for writing the screenplay for Promising Young Woman, starring British actress Carey Mulligan.