Wuthering Heights now streaming: How to watch Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordis controversial romance
Academy Award-winning writer-director Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn) joined forces with two of Hollywood's favorites for her third feature film: Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. And you'd think that combination would thrill audiences, but instead, it led to a ton of outrage. Why? Because that third feature film is a reimagining of Emily Brontë’s beloved 1847 gothic romance tale Wuthering Heights.
Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Elordi as Heathcliff, the star-crossed lovers at the heart of the classic drama, raised casting concerns from fans. Many folks thought the Barbie star was too old to play Catherine and that Elordi wasn't racially ambiguous enough to play Heathcliff. Still, fans flocked to the theaters to see the over-the-top romance anyway.
Fennell herself put intentional quotation marks around the title, as her modern adaptation of the period drama is radically different than the original. If you missed it in theaters or want to watch it again, here's everything you need to know to catch Wuthering Heights from your couch.
What is Wuthering Heights about?
The bones of the 2026 adaptation of Wuthering Heights are essentially the same as Brontë's classic: Catherine is a motherless rich girl being raised by an alcoholic father and Heathcliff is a poor kid adopted to be raised alongside her. They run wild in the moors of West Yorkshire, England and develop a deep connection. They grow into hot adults (Robbie and Elordi) and their preternatural connection becomes an all-consuming romance. But Catherine longs for luxury and there's no future with Heathcliff, so she agrees to marry the wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif). Heathcliff, feeling betrayed, runs away, only to return five years later a wealthy man himself.
Check out the official trailer for a glimpse at "Wuthering Heights":
Is Wuthering Heights worth watching?
Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" has truly divided (and outraged) the internet. To put it simply, this is not the adaptation of Brontë’s Victorian classic that fans were expecting.
The movie currently holds a 57 percent critic rating and 76 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which feels like a pretty accurate representation. Mashable's own lead film critic, Kristy Puchko, was largely unenthused by the adaptation. "Instead of a cohesive re-imagining or even a titillating romance, Wuthering Heights feels like a passionate but incoherent collage of teenage lust and rebellion, the kind better suited to a high school locker than a movie theater," she writes in her review.
Whether it's worth a watch is highly debatable, but one should certainly adjust their expectations before going in.
Check out Mashable's full review of Wuthering Heights.
How to watch Wuthering Heights at home
As of May 1, there are a couple of ways you can watch "Wuthering Heights" at home: buy it, rent it, or stream it. We've broken down the details below.
Buy or rent on digital
"Wuthering Heights" made its at-home debut at digital-on-demand retailers on March 31, 2026. You can purchase the film for your digital library for $19.99 or rent it for $10 less. If you choose to rent, you'll get access for 30 days, but just 48 hours once you start watching.
Quick links to buy/rent Wuthering Heights on digital:
Apple TV — buy for $19.99, rent for $9.99
Fandango at Home — buy for $19.99, rent for $9.99
Prime Video — buy for $19.99, rent for $9.99
YouTube — buy for $19.99, rent for $9.99
Stream it on HBO Max
"Wuthering Heights" made its streaming debut on HBO Max on May 1, 2026. Warner Bros. Pictures theatrical releases exclusively stream on HBO Max before anywhere else, so this comes as no surprise. It follows the same theater-to-streaming trajectory as other recently released Warner Bros. movies — like One Battle After Another, Weapons, and The Conjuring: Last Rites.
HBO Max subscriptions start at $10.99 per month, but there are some ways to save some money on your plan. Check out the best HBO Max streaming deals below.
The best HBO Max streaming deals
Best for most people: Save 16% on HBO Max annual subscriptions
The best way to save on HBO Max in the long term is to sign up for the annual plan over the monthly plan. The HBO Max Basic plan with ads typically costs $10.99 per month, but if you pay for an entire year up front, that price drops down to just $9.17. You'll pay $109.99 total for the year, which saves you about 16% compared to paying each month.
Don't want to deal with ads? The annual HBO Max Standard or Premium plans will also save you about 16% over their monthly equivalents. The Standard tier costs either $18.49 per month or $184.99 per year (about $15.42 per month), while the Premium tier costs either $22.99 per month or $229.99 per year (about $19.17 per month). Both tiers unlock ad-free viewing, but the Premium tier also adds 4K Ultra HD video quality, Dolby Atmos immersive audio, and the ability to download more offline content.
Get HBO Max for free: Switch to Cricket's Supreme Unlimited plan
There's a big incentive to switching your phone plan to Cricket's $60 per month Supreme Unlimited plan: free HBO Max. When you open up the HBO Max app or website, you'll just select Cricket as your provider and use your credentials to log in.
Best HBO Max deal for students: Save 50% on HBO Max Basic with ads
College students can watch "Wuthering Heights" when it hits streaming with an entire year of HBO Max with ads for half price. Use UNiDAYS to prove your student status and retrieve a unique discount code that drops the price from $10.99 to just $5.49 per month. After 12 months, the price will jump back up to the full $10.99 monthly fee unless you cancel.
Best bundle deal: Get HBO Max, Disney+, and Hulu for up to 42% off
You'll get the most bang for your buck if you opt for the Disney+ bundle deal that includes Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max for just $19.99 per month with ads. That lineup of streamers would cost you $34.97 per month if you paid separately for each, so you'll save about $15 monthly. If you prefer to go ad-free, the bundle will run you $32.99 per month as opposed to $56.47. That's up to 42% in savings for unlimited access to all three streaming libraries.
Best for Verizon customers: Get Netflix and HBO Max for $10/month
Verizon customers with myPlan can get the Netflix and HBO Max bundle (with ads) for only $10 per month (a $19.98 per month value). That's basically like getting one service for free. Eligible Verizon customers include those on the Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Ultimate plans. After enrolling in the promo, complete the account setup separately for each service. Verizon's support page has all the eligibility details, terms, and FAQs.
Best for Xfinity customers: Bundle HBO Max, Peacock, and Netflix and save $10/month
New and current Xfinity Internet and TV customers can add an Xfinity StreamSaver package to their account, which includes Netflix Standard with ads ($8.99 per month), Peacock Premium ($10.99 per month), and HBO Max Basic with Ads ($10.99 per month). You can add the StreamSaver bundle to your existing services for only $22 per month. Usually, it costs $30.97 per month for all three subscriptions, so you'll save $8.97 monthly with this package deal.
