Our First Look at Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Is Here, and It’s…Strange!

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There’s obviously no right way to reinterpret a classic piece of literature, and I, for one, have been extremely excited to find out how director Emerald Fennell would toy with Wuthering Heights ever since those very first photos from her big-screen adaptation leaked. I was, truthfully, kind of into Margot Robbie as Cathy with her big, poofy wedding dress (despite the fact that, yeah, yeah, it wasn’t a totally accurate period re-creation—yawn, congrats on your English-lit degree!), but the most recently captured images of Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff actually do have me somewhat up in arms.

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Sorry to get all lit nerd right after making fun of my fellow English majors, but if there’s one thing that feels central to the story of Wuthering Heights, it’s the fact that Heathcliff is supposed to be…hot! Life-ruiningly, psyche-invadingly, genre-definingly hot! No offense to Elordi, who is certainly as handsome and symmetrical as you might expect an A-list actor to be, but in the first glimpses we’re getting, his big, goofy grin, muttonchops, and gold tooth(!) just don’t evoke the wildness and sexual magnetism of Heathcliff’s character for me. Sorry!

Of course the other thing to consider here is that Heathcliff is described by Emily Brontë as “dark skinned.” While, yes, many period adaptations tend to be quite white, the popularity of Bridgerton proves that there’s plenty of room for actors of all races and ethnicities to get in on the corset-and-breeches-wearing fun. So a wee bit of a missed opportunity, putting Elordi in the role—but maybe he’ll justify his casting in his actual performance? How much can we really know about a movie from long-range paparazzi shots, anyway?