Wuthering Heights casting director, Kharmel Cochrane has publicly defended the casting of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi for the new adaptation of the book, against significant backlash, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
The book, Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Brontë, tells the story of two families — the Earnshaws and the Lintons — both of whom live on the West Yorkshire moors. It portrays the love between Catherine Earnshaw, who will be played by Robbie, and Heathcliff (to be played by Elordi), the adopted foster son of the Earnshaw family. Although in love with Heathcliff, Catherine also craves the security and social status that marriage to Edgar Linton would provide. Ultimately, Heathcliff is driven mad by his love for Catherine and is haunted by her ghost.
The actors’ ages and hair color have been the bone of contention since after Wuthering Heights director, Emerald Fennell, broke the news that Elordi and Robbie would be playing the roles of Heathcliff and Catherine. Some observers have balked at Robbie’s decision to retain her blonde hair even when the character in the book is described as having brown ringlets. Others are more concerned about her age as Catherine in the book is almost 17 and Robbie is a 34-year-old woman. The audience who bashed Cochrane’s choice of Elordi as Heathcliff is in turn bothered that his hair and skin color do not reflect those of the book’s character, which Brontë described as “a dark skinned-gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman.”
“It’s Just a Book”: Cochrane Slams Critics of Robbie and Elordi
Image via Charlie Purvey/Click News/ SplashNews
The project’s casting director, Cochrane responded to critics of his casting choice for Heathcliff and Catherine, stating that Wuthering Heights is just a book.
In a Q&A session at Scotland’s Sand Film Festival, the casting vet admitted she had received a lot of heat for her work in the casting of Robbie and Elordi, and even made mention of an Instagram comment that said she should be shot. “There was one Instagram comment that said the casting director should be shot,” Cochrane said. “But just wait till you see it, and then you can decide whether you want to shoot me or not. But you really don’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book. That is not based on real life. It’s all art.”
Wuthering Heights has been acted out several times before even with white-skinned actors (without this much backlash). The most famous is the 1939 version starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, which was nominated for Best Picture. There’s also the 1970 version, starring Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall, the 1992 version featuring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and the 2011 adaptation directed by Andrea Arnold.
Fennell’s Wuthering Heights will be released to theaters on February 13, 2026.
 |
Wuthering Heights (2026) |
|---|---|
| Cast | Margot Robbie (Catherine Earnshaw), Jacob Elordi (Heathcliff), Alison Oliver (Isabella Linton), Shazad Latif (Edgar Linton), Hong Chau (Nelly Dean) |
| Release Date | February 13, 2026 |
| Stream On | To be announced |
| Directed by | Emerald Fennell |
| Produced by | Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie (via LuckyChap Entertainment), MRC |
| Based On | Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë |
| Plot Summary | A modernized adaptation of Brontë’s gothic classic, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. |
| Musical Elements | Composer not yet announced |
| Current Status | In pre-production; filming scheduled to begin in the UK in 2025 |
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