“That’s why it’s so great,” the actress says of Catherine and Heathcliff’s tumultuous relationship.

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi on Wuthering Heights’ ‘complex’ love story: ‘Cathy’s just such a bitch’

"That's why it's so great," the actress says of Catherine and Heathcliff's tumultuous relationship.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

EW's editorial guidelines

February 12, 2026 12:00 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in 'Wuthering Heights'. Credit:

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

It's been over 170 years since Emily Brontë introduced readers to the obsessive, passionate, destructive, and all-consuming bond between Catherine "Cathy" Earnshaw and her childhood friend and adoptive sibling, Heathcliff, in *Wuthering Heights. ***

In the decades since, the pair's star-crossed romance has been adapted more than 20 times for film and television. Now, *Wuthering Heights *returns once again to drive theatergoers mad in a brand new, eye-catching iteration helmed by Emerald Fennell, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.**

Robbie, who plays the delightfully dramatic Cathy, tells ** that she immediately resonated with Cathy and Heathcliff's complicated relationship after reading Fennell's script. **

"My first foray into the world of Cathy and Heathcliff was in her script, and then I went and read the book — and I've read it a few times now and adore it — and it's just so incredible," says Robbie, who also serves as a producer on the film. "But I connected with their relationship quite quickly, even though it did take me a little bit to find the character."

Elordi and Robbe in 'Wuthering Heights'.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Elordi, meanwhile, felt he truly connected with his version of Heathcliff when they traded in their sumptuous sets for the wild and windy moors that form the backdrop of the Gothic novel. **

"When we got out of the studio and into the moors, there's a magic up there that Brontë captured in her book, and it did feel like we all breathed that air in and became the character in a way," he explains. "Including the crew...It was those moments that felt like connecting to the script." **

For Fennell, no one else could've played Cathy and Heathcliff besides Robbie and Elordi — even if both actors faced backlash after being cast. "[The film] needed somebody like Margot who had this unbelievable charisma," the writer-director maintains. "I firmly believe Margot could do anything in the world and we would all forgive her because her charisma, her talent, her beauty, is so extreme."

Jacob Elordi vows to follow Margot Robbie 'like a dog' in 'Wuthering Heights' trailer

Jacob Elordi landed in hospital after freak shower accident during 'Wuthering Heights'

Fennell sees a similar quality in Elordi, who previously starred in her 2023 film *Saltburn*. "He has this innate core that is so deeply lovable and sensitive," she shares. "And so to bring that into a character, because the Heathcliff of the novel is… he's hard to love, but that's the least of it."  **

Cathy and Heathcliff are two sides of the same coin — "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same," she famously notes in the novel. And, as a result, the pair can be both heartwarmingly kind and devastatingly cruel to one another with the understanding that their love will not waver. **

"They know each other, and so they can be deplorable, and that only kind of makes them love each other more," Fennell adds. "And that was the thing that I found so thrilling about the book, was that Cathy is this character. It's why Margot is so incredible. She is monstrous. She's a little diva. She's a star."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.*****

And it's not exactly a spoiler to say that the pair are far from saints — both in the novel and in the film. **

"I mean, Cathy's just *such* a bitch," Robbie confesses. But, crucially, Heathcliff wouldn't want her to be any other way. "That's why it's so great," she continues. "He's watching the worst of Cathy and is, if anything, loving her even more."

'Wuthering Heights'.

Elordi also notes that there's something affirming in the way that the pair revel in being cruel to each other. **

"If you are willing to spite me and hurt me, that means that you love me and vice versa," he says. "And that's the kind of sickness of complex love, I think. As long as you're doing something — even if it's negative — if it's towards me, it's about me, so then we're connected."

*Wuthering Heights *checks into theaters on Feb. 13.**

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Drama”