Fennell crafts ‘withering hype’ through racebending Elordi casting

Racebending has always been a controversial subject. Some of the most popular examples of this in recent times are Disney’s The Little Mermaid (2023) and Snow White (2025), movies where the main leads were cast as people of color. Both trailers were met with mixed reception, and the recent release of Wuthering Heights (2026) movie is no different. However, the new release differs in the way the character Heathcliff, who is written as a dark-skinned, black-haired, man, is played by the Australian actor Jacob Elordi. 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a gothic fiction published in 1847. There are multiple points in the book that reference Heathcliff’s appearance. For example, Linton describes him as “a strange acquisition…a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway” (Brontë 73). The word “lascar” is one that was used to describe sailors or militiamen from India, Southeast Asia, Arab and Somalia that worked on European ships from the 16th to 20th centuries. There are multiple references to his black hair, black eyes, thick brows and his “dark face.” Heathcliff is also referred to as an offensive term used for Romani people in the book repeatedly and is labeled as an “afreet.” Afreets are powerful genies or demons in Arabian and Muslim mythology. Although Heathcliff’s ethnicity is vague, it’s clear that he isn’t white.

When Elordi’s casting decision was revealed, director Emerald Fennell was met with backlash. Wuthering Heights is a social commentary on gender roles, racism and classism of its time. It touched upon topics Victorian era English people wouldn’t poke with a 10-foot stick. To erase one of the major issues from the book is to erase the nuance of the book. So, why was Heathcliff’s race changed? According to Deadline, Fenell states in an interview that she picked Elordi because he “looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff on the first book that I read.”

In the Hollywood Reporter Fennell further argues her point, saying “I think the thing is everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it, and so you can only ever make the movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it.”

Firstly, this reason is a little questionable. This implies that when she read the book for the movie, she never picked up on any of the racial undertones. She didn’t put research into the backstory, word origins, and could also never imagine a person of color in a lead role. What makes this worse? She didn’t even reread the book before making the adaptation. This movie is an interpretation from Fennell when she was 14. Many people have criticized her for this fact because children and teens tend to have different interpretations of the media they consume than how adults would. Adaptations don’t have to be completely faithful to the source material, there’s many that deviate heavily from the original source. But to adapt a book only from a childish perspective? Immature. Especially since Wuthering Heights is considered a literary classic.

Not only was Heathcliff race swapped, but a few other characters were too. In Wuthering Heights, Edgar Linton is a white man. He is specifically described as having blue eyes, blonde hair and pale skin. The first few chapters have Heathcliff envy him for his appearance and wanting to look like him. In this latest film version, Linton is played by Pakistani actor Shazad Latif. Nelly Dean, another white character, is played by Thai actress, Hong Chau. What many people are perplexed about isn’t that people of color were used to act as the movie’s opposing characters, but the fact they replaced two of the white opposing characters. Were the intentions racist? Most likely not. But it is very short sighted of Fennell to not consider this. She can’t play the ignorance card when she says that she’s been obsessed with Wuthering Heights and the fact that she absolutely could’ve read it again anytime throughout the production process.

Although the movie is based on Fennell’s interpretation of the book, there are so many things that teenage Fennell missed in her reading. This erasure of representation in Wuthering Heights is utterly disappointing. Fennell isn’t the first director to cast a white person as Heathcliff. In fact, only the 2011 adaptation has a person of color casted as him. However, in an era where representation is emphasized and wanted more than ever, it is peculiar of her to just…not include it. It would’ve been a great opportunity to touch upon the racial issues present in the book with a modern approach. Instead, the book is used as gothic set dressing to satisfy the juvenile dreams Fennell had in middle or high school.

by Hazel Nuon

Published March 20, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue VI