Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ Movie Sparks Backlash Over Casting Of Jacob Elordi As “Dark-Skinned” Heathcliff

Emerald Fennell‘s decision to cast Jacob Elordi in Wuthering Heights has raised eyebrows in the UK.

Deadline revealed on Monday that Elordi and Margot Robbie will star in the Emily Brontë adaptation as Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Saltburn director Fennell is set to write, direct, and produce, with filming taking place in the UK next year.

Heathcliff’s ethnicity is famously ambiguous in Brontë’s 1847 novel, but there is some consensus that his description as a “dark-skinned gipsy” — as well as his abandonment as a baby at the slave port of Liverpool — likely means he was not white.

Commenting on Elordi’s casting, Michael Stewart, director of the Brontë Writing Centre, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper: “With Wuthering Heights, you’ve had many years of white actors playing the more ambiguous ethnic character… But things are different now, the way we represent certain people in art and culture comes with a responsibility now that wasn’t there 20 years ago.”

Heathcliff was played by Tom Hardy, for example, in a 2009 television adaptation of Wuthering Heights for UK broadcaster ITV. Andrea Arnold’s 2011 movie, however, cast James Howson in the role.

Dr Claire O’Callaghan, editor-in-chief of the official journal of the Brontë Society, told the Telegraph: “I guess the danger of this – of casting a white actor – particularly in the cultural climate, is that it overlooks the ambiguity that’s there.”

The comments of Stewart and O’Callaghan followed criticism on social media. In a post that has been viewed more than 7.5M times, one user of X (once Twitter) wrote: “Heathcliff is described as a dark-skinned brown man in the book and a major plot point is that he was subjected to racist abuse by his adopted family. But yeah sure Jacob Elordi is perfect!”

Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent film critic, asked: “Did anyone actually read the book before deciding this?” Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, another critic, added: “White Heathcliff and 34-year-old Cathy, and they both look like they belong on Instagram. I’m obsessed.”

The original novel by Brontë is considered by many to be one of the great pieces of literature. The original story follows two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and the turbulent relationship they have with the Earnshaws’ foster son, Heathcliff.

Fennell’s reps have been contacted for comment.