'Wuthering Heights' trailer puts Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in a steamy, off-limits romance
The film arrives in theaters on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 2026
Longing. Sweat. A look that lingers half a second too long. That's the vibe of Emerald Fennell (movies and tv series)'s "Wuthering Heights" trailer - a heatwave of forbidden want landing just in time for Valentine's Day.
The trailer opens by calling itself "inspired by the greatest love story," tipping its hat to Emily Brontë's 1847 classic. If you need the refresher: Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi (movies and tv series)), the outsider raised by the Earnshaws, falls hard for Cathy (Margot Robbie (movies and tv series)). Class, pride, and old wounds do the rest, setting up love that burns and a revenge that doesn't cool easily. If you want the source text, here's a clean primer on the novel from Britannica.
Fennell - the "Saltburn" director - seems to lean into Cathy's point of view this time. We watch her promise one life while aching for another, until Heathcliff walks back in, beard gone and edges sanded down like a man who's learned the rules of high society. And suddenly the room feels too small for everything they haven't said.
There's plenty of old-fashioned swoon. Stolen touches. A jaw set like a dare. Heathcliff, rain-soaked and pulling his shirt off, because of course he does. The whole thing rides on an original Charli XCX (movies and tv series) soundtrack - a remix of "Everything Is Romantic" teased earlier - which gives the period drama a pulse you feel in your ribs. More on the artist here: Charli XCX.
Then the line that lands like a match strike: "So kiss me," Heathcliff tells Cathy, "and let us both be damned." You can practically hear the collective gasp from the back row.
Not everyone is sold. Some fans are frustrated that Heathcliff - described in the book with dark features and labeled with a term now recognized as a slur for Romani people - is once again played by a white actor. Others point out the age gap: Robbie, who also produced, is 35; the novel's Cathy tops out at 19. These aren't small quibbles; they're the kind of choices that shape how a classic lands with modern audiences.
There's also a theory gaining traction online: maybe this isn't a straight adaptation at all. TikToker Jamie McAleney (@itsyourfilmsis) suggests Robbie could be playing a reader imagining herself as Cathy - a story about the story. People are pointing to deliberate-looking costume anachronisms and the quotation marks around the film's title as little breadcrumbs. Maybe it's a misdirect. Maybe it's the point.
For those tracking the release calendar, a Valentine's launch says it out loud: this is a big-screen date-movie play, but with Fennell's sharp edge and a pop-forward soundtrack. Star power (Robbie, Elordi), genre heat (forbidden romance), and a familiar IP can be a potent mix - especially if the conversation keeps buzzing through February.
However the film frames it - faithful, meta, or somewhere messier in between - one thing's obvious from the trailer: it's going for intensity over restraint. "Wuthering Heights" opens in theaters on Feb. 14, 2026.
