Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ Isn’t True to Brontë—But It Will Complete the Twilight-to-50 Shades Smutty Fanfic Loop

I have been to the actual Wuthering Heights.

I traveled by plane and train and bus and foot, halfway across the globe, just to visit the setting of one of my favorite books, which I have read and underlined and written in more times than I can count.

But the degree of my love for this masterpiece Emily Brontë gave us (before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 30) doesn’t translate into a rabid protection of its source material. I’m not outraged that Saltburn’s Emerald Fennell is taking a less than completely faithful interpretation for her upcoming remake, especially knowing that franchises like The Twilight Saga and 50 Shades Of Grey got their starts as fanfic inspired by the novel’s epic love triangle between Cathy, Heathcliff, and Edgar Linton.

People who drooled over Stephanie Meier’s vampires and werewolves, or hid E.L. James’ BDSM 101 novel under a different book jacket for their morning commute reading may have had no idea of the connection to Wuthering Heights, but Fennell is paying transparent tribute to the original, as well as the horny fanfic loop its inspired, by giving us a version that feels like an 80s or 90s smut novel with Fabio on the cover, but with decidedly modern cinematography and music by Charli xcx. Slated for a Valentine’s Day 2026 release, there’s a prime opportunity here to spin-off “Brat Summer” into “Wench Winter” for the corset-filled event.

Australians Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi will bring literature’s most toxic duo to life as Cathy and Heathcliff, and Fennell’s teaser trailer is as sexually charged as you’d expect her Saltburn follow up to be. Bread dough and egg yolks have never been this X-rated, and heaving chests and horse bridles suggest we’ll see a lot of scenes that were not part of the original text. I could not be more here for it.

But if you do know anything about the book and the shock it caused for its dark themes and digging up of graves, this story becomes so obviously perfect for Fennell to tackle, and I think Brontë herself would be pleased that someone who deeply understands the same psychological and economic themes that inspired her almost 180 years ago is reinterpreting her story for a new audience and continuing to push boundaries to shock and awe the next generation.

Check out the visual and auditory feast of a teaser trailer for yourself below! I promise it will have you “wuthering” in more ways than one…