- The new adaptation of Wuthering Heights has begun filming
- But despite being a long-time collaborator of director Emerald Fennell, Carey Mulligan will not be starring in the movie
- Fennell and Mulligan previously worked together on the Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman, and Saltburn
The latest Wuthering Heights adaptation has sparked conversation from fans of the Emily Brontë novel across the globe.
Yet despite being a long-time collaborator of director Emerald Fennell, Carey Mulligan has now revealed she will not be featuring in the movie.
Mulligan earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 2021 after starring in Fennell’s directorial debut Promising Young Woman – which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The duo later worked together on Saltburn, which saw Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan in the lead roles.
But in an interview with Variety, Milligan confirmed that she would not be participating in the new version of Wuthering Heights.
“Not on this one. She’s shooting now,” Mulligan said. “But hopefully all of [Fennell’s films] in the future. I would love that.”
Why will Carey Mulligan not appear in Wuthering Heights?
While fans may be disappointed not to see Mulligan back on our screens, there’s a good reason for her absence.
The actor will instead be starring in the second season of Netflix’s series Beef – which has just started filming.
“We just started. Almost everything [is different],” Mulligan revealed. “But it’s still [creator Lee Sung Jin] being brilliant. It’s a completely new story and if I say anything else then a laser beam will appear on my head. But it’s very exciting.”
The season will consist of eight 30-minute episodes, and will feature a new storyline and an entirely new cast – headlined by Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny.
The official logline for the new season states, “A young couple witnesses an alarming fight between their boss and his wife, triggering chess moves of favors and coercion in the elitist world of a country club and its Korean billionaire owner.”
The first season of Beef won Emmys for leading stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.
Wuthering Heights receives backlash from fans
Set to be released in February 2026, Fennell’s take on Wuthering Heights will star Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the leading roles of Catherine ‘Cathy’ Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Robbie will also be producing the film, through her company, LuckyChap.
But the decision to cast Elordi as Brontë’s Byronic hero had already been met with controversy.
Throughout the 1847 novel, Heathcliff is treated as an outcast due to the racism of both the Linton and Earnshaw families – so many found it curious that Elordi would be portraying the character, as he is white.
“Emily Bronte describing Heathcliff: ‘dark-skinned gipsy, ‘a little Lascar’, ‘as dark almost as if it came from the devil.’ Hollywood casting director: So basically a white man with a tan then?,” noted one fan.
Another said, “Just a not so friendly reminder: Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights is explicitly dark skin and Romani, and his experiences as a man of color influence his entire character and story as a man suffering racist abuse from his adoptive family.”
