'Wuthering Heights' ending makes major change from Emily Brontë's book Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYFebruary 14, 2026 at 7:45 PM 0 Spoiler alert! We're discussing major details about the ending of "Wuthering Heights" (in theaters now). Stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know. If you just saw Emerald Fennell's kinky, candycolored take on "Wuthering Heights," you only got half the story.
- - 'Wuthering Heights' ending makes major change from Emily Brontë's book
Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYFebruary 14, 2026 at 7:45 PM
0
Spoiler alert! We're discussing major details about the ending of "Wuthering Heights" (in theaters now). Stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know.
If you just saw Emerald Fennell's kinky, candy-colored take on "Wuthering Heights," you only got half the story.
Clocking in at just over 400 pages, Emily Brontë's original novel is a decades-spanning epic charting the tempestuous romance between Catherine (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), and how the next generation of children heals from passed-down trauma.
But the couple's descendants don't appear in Fennell's "Wuthering Heights." In fact, the movie ends roughly midway through Brontë's book with Catherine's death.
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Emerald Fennell, left, and Margot Robbie behind the scenes of "Wuthering Heights."
"It's such a dense, complicated piece of work," Fennell says. Adapting it was always "going to be really difficult. I had to kill a lot of my own darlings in order to make the story work in two hours."
Here's how Fennell changed the story's ending – and whether the door remains open for a potential sequel:
How does the 'Wuthering Heights' 2026 movie end?
"Wuthering Heights" author Emily Brontë, left, has a new adaptation of her iconic Gothic novel starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie.
In Brontë's novel, Catherine dies hours after her daughter, Cathy, is born prematurely. Cathy is raised by her father, Edgar, and goes on to marry Heathcliff's sickly son, Linton, who dies shortly after their wedding.
Meanwhile, Cathy has a contentious relationship with her cousin, Hareton, who was taken in by the abusive Heathcliff after his parents' deaths. Heathcliff taught Hareton his brutal ways, but through his unlikely courtship of the widowed Cathy, Hareton softens and aspires to be better. The young couple ultimately gets married, and the ghosts of the elder Catherine and Heathcliff later haunt the English moors surrounding their palatial estate.
In Fennell's movie, the infant Cathy is never born. The film ends with Catherine suffering from sepsis and having an apparent miscarriage, bleeding out in her bed. Heathcliff arrives too late to say goodbye, and tearfully cradles her dead body as a montage of their passionate romance flashes across the screen.
Will there be a 'Wuthering Heights' sequel?Drive us mad with your "Wuthering Heights" fashion looks, Margot and Jacob ... The stars of the upcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic novel have fans swooning over red carpet looks and press tour interactions. Margot Robbie, who plays Catherine Earnshaw, and Jacob Elordi, who portrays Heathcliff, stepped out in Los Angeles this week to promote the film, out in theaters on Feb. 13, 2026.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>Drive us mad with your "Wuthering Heights" fashion looks, Margot and Jacob ... The stars of the upcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic novel have fans swooning over red carpet looks and press tour interactions. Margot Robbie, who plays Catherine Earnshaw, and Jacob Elordi, who portrays Heathcliff, stepped out in Los Angeles this week to promote the film, out in theaters on Feb. 13, 2026.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/LOxWu7t class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Drive us mad with your "Wuthering Heights" fashion looks, Margot and Jacob ... The stars of the upcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic novel have fans swooning over red carpet looks and press tour interactions. Margot Robbie, who plays Catherine Earnshaw, and Jacob Elordi, who portrays Heathcliff, stepped out in Los Angeles this week to promote the film, out in theaters on Feb. 13, 2026.
">Drive us mad with your "Wuthering Heights" fashion looks, Margot and Jacob ... The stars of the upcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic novel have fans swooning over red carpet looks and press tour interactions. Margot Robbie, who plays Catherine Earnshaw, and Jacob Elordi, who portrays Heathcliff, stepped out in Los Angeles this week to promote the film, out in theaters on Feb. 13, 2026.
" src=https://ift.tt/LOxWu7t class=caas-img>Margot Robbie poses during a photocall before the screening of "Wuthering Heights" at the Grand Rex theater in Paris on Feb. 2, 2026.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/9u0i1z8 class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie poses during a photocall before the screening of "Wuthering Heights" at the Grand Rex theater in Paris on Feb. 2, 2026.
">Margot Robbie poses during a photocall before the screening of "Wuthering Heights" at the Grand Rex theater in Paris on Feb. 2, 2026.
" src=https://ift.tt/9u0i1z8 class=caas-img>Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/20y8a7h class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie
">Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/20y8a7h class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi, Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie and Shazad Latif
" data-src=https://ift.tt/aYjZrPb class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi, Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie and Shazad Latif
">Jacob Elordi, Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie and Shazad Latif
" src=https://ift.tt/aYjZrPb class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi
" data-src=https://ift.tt/HDOi7qM class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi
">Jacob Elordi
" src=https://ift.tt/HDOi7qM class=caas-img>Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/mErC7cT class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie
">Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/mErC7cT class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie attend Warner Bros. Pictures and MRC Presents World Premiere of "Wuthering Heights" at TCL Chinese Theatre on January 28, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
" data-src=https://ift.tt/EapK63U class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie attend Warner Bros. Pictures and MRC Presents World Premiere of "Wuthering Heights" at TCL Chinese Theatre on January 28, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
">Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie attend Warner Bros. Pictures and MRC Presents World Premiere of "Wuthering Heights" at TCL Chinese Theatre on January 28, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
" src=https://ift.tt/EapK63U class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi
" data-src=https://ift.tt/wAJESUc class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi
">Jacob Elordi
" src=https://ift.tt/wAJESUc class=caas-img>Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/PKBTAt1 class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie
">Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/PKBTAt1 class=caas-img>From left: Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, Shazad Latif, Margot Robbie, Emerald Fennell, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx
" data-src=https://ift.tt/29fAreG class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
From left: Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, Shazad Latif, Margot Robbie, Emerald Fennell, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx
">From left: Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, Shazad Latif, Margot Robbie, Emerald Fennell, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx
" src=https://ift.tt/29fAreG class=caas-img>Charli xcx
" data-src=https://ift.tt/aERDYBn class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Charli xcx
">Charli xcx
" src=https://ift.tt/aERDYBn class=caas-img>Charli xcx
" data-src=https://ift.tt/YolZ0Mb class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Charli xcx
">Charli xcx
" src=https://ift.tt/YolZ0Mb class=caas-img>Finn Keane and Charli xcx
" data-src=https://ift.tt/oHqjsy3 class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Finn Keane and Charli xcx
">Finn Keane and Charli xcx
" src=https://ift.tt/oHqjsy3 class=caas-img> Jacob Elordi
" data-src=https://ift.tt/RAM916r class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi
"> Jacob Elordi
" src=https://ift.tt/RAM916r class=caas-img> Jacob Elordi
" data-src=https://ift.tt/6S4HGmT class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi
"> Jacob Elordi
" src=https://ift.tt/6S4HGmT class=caas-img> Jacob Elordi
" data-src=https://ift.tt/LUme29D class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi
"> Jacob Elordi
" src=https://ift.tt/LUme29D class=caas-img>Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/6pWiG0B class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie
">Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/6pWiG0B class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/N0uUWak class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
">Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/N0uUWak class=caas-img>Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/3lCu5Ue class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie
">Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/3lCu5Ue class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/oHmGKVw class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
">Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/oHmGKVw class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/YG4yjAp class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
">Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/YG4yjAp class=caas-img>Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
" data-src=https://ift.tt/UNeIv5l class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
">Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
" src=https://ift.tt/UNeIv5l class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, Josey McNamara, Emerald Fennell, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif and Charli xcx
" data-src=https://ift.tt/ZsupOoC class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, Josey McNamara, Emerald Fennell, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif and Charli xcx
">Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, Josey McNamara, Emerald Fennell, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif and Charli xcx
" src=https://ift.tt/ZsupOoC class=caas-img>Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/KVH9dUS class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie
">Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/KVH9dUS class=caas-img>Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
" data-src=https://ift.tt/h1nKWU0 class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
">Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
" src=https://ift.tt/h1nKWU0 class=caas-img>Margot Robbie attends a photocall for "Wuthering Heights" in Beverly Hills, California on Jan. 28, 2026.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/X2bHlMG class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie attends a photocall for "Wuthering Heights" in Beverly Hills, California on Jan. 28, 2026.
">Margot Robbie attends a photocall for "Wuthering Heights" in Beverly Hills, California on Jan. 28, 2026.
" src=https://ift.tt/X2bHlMG class=caas-img>"Wuthering Heights" director Emerald Fennell, Charli xcx and Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/cNDa5RV class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
"Wuthering Heights" director Emerald Fennell, Charli xcx and Margot Robbie
">"Wuthering Heights" director Emerald Fennell, Charli xcx and Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/cNDa5RV class=caas-img>"Wuthering Heights" stars Margot Robbie, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver
" data-src=https://ift.tt/OjNycIU class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
"Wuthering Heights" stars Margot Robbie, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver
">"Wuthering Heights" stars Margot Robbie, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver
" src=https://ift.tt/OjNycIU class=caas-img>Emerald Fennell, Charli xcx, Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Shazad Latif, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver
" data-src=https://ift.tt/8LwV3WR class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Emerald Fennell, Charli xcx, Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Shazad Latif, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver
">Emerald Fennell, Charli xcx, Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Shazad Latif, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver
" src=https://ift.tt/8LwV3WR class=caas-img>Margot Robbie adorned her scarlet red look with Jessica McCormack jewelry, featuring a a 10ct ball n'chain pear diamond shaped pendant suspended by red ribbon, paired with a chubby daisy diamond and ruby halo ring.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/mpljTYe class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie adorned her scarlet red look with Jessica McCormack jewelry, featuring a a 10ct ball n'chain pear diamond shaped pendant suspended by red ribbon, paired with a chubby daisy diamond and ruby halo ring.
">Margot Robbie adorned her scarlet red look with Jessica McCormack jewelry, featuring a a 10ct ball n'chain pear diamond shaped pendant suspended by red ribbon, paired with a chubby daisy diamond and ruby halo ring.
" src=https://ift.tt/mpljTYe class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/SFYlM2X class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
">Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie
" src=https://ift.tt/SFYlM2X class=caas-img>Jacob Elordi and Margot Robie
" data-src=https://ift.tt/B7JI5ka class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robie
">Jacob Elordi and Margot Robie
" src=https://ift.tt/B7JI5ka class=caas-img>Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Emerald Fennell
" data-src=https://ift.tt/cbVvup9 class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Emerald Fennell
">Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Emerald Fennell
" src=https://ift.tt/cbVvup9 class=caas-img>Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver and Charli xcx
" data-src=https://ift.tt/TxRXyvm class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver and Charli xcx
">Emerald Fennell, Margot Robbie, Hong Chau and Alison Oliver and Charli xcx
" src=https://ift.tt/TxRXyvm class=caas-img>Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx appear on Sirius XM's "The Julia Cunningham Show" at Greystone Manor on Jan. 28, 2026, in Beverly Hills, California.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/XGFoBN3 class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx appear on Sirius XM's "The Julia Cunningham Show" at Greystone Manor on Jan. 28, 2026, in Beverly Hills, California.
">Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx appear on Sirius XM's "The Julia Cunningham Show" at Greystone Manor on Jan. 28, 2026, in Beverly Hills, California.
" src=https://ift.tt/XGFoBN3 class=caas-img>Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx
" data-src=https://ift.tt/9b3Bw2z class=caas-img data-headline="'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi" data-caption="
Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx
">Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Charli xcx
" src=https://ift.tt/9b3Bw2z class=caas-img>
1 / 36'Wuthering Heights' premiere looks from Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi
Drive us mad with your "Wuthering Heights" fashion looks, Margot and Jacob ... The stars of the upcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic novel have fans swooning over red carpet looks and press tour interactions. Margot Robbie, who plays Catherine Earnshaw, and Jacob Elordi, who portrays Heathcliff, stepped out in Los Angeles this week to promote the film, out in theaters on Feb. 13, 2026.
Given that Catherine never gives birth in the film, Fennell nixes the possibility of exploring the next generation in a second movie.
"I think of this as a one-off, and I'm not alone in that when you look at other adaptations," Fennell says. A 1992 film starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche dared to adapt the entire book, although most "Wuthering Heights" movies only cover the first half, including the 1939 classic with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon.
"There's a world where this is a miniseries and you really get into deep, deep detail of every single thing that happens," Fennell says. "But for me, the thing I connected to as a reader was always (Catherine and Heathcliff). I also don't know if I'd be very good at sequels!"
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Wuthering Heights' movie ending is a big change from the book
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: February 14, 2026 at 09:45AM on Source: PRIME TIME
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