“Wuthering Heights” Ending Explained: What Happens to Heathcliff?
- - “Wuthering Heights” Ending Explained: What Happens to Heathcliff?
Christopher RudolphFebruary 14, 2026 at 2:50 AM
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Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in 'Wuthering Heights' (2026)
Warner Bros.
The 2026 film Wuthering Heights is written and directed by Emerald Fennell, and stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi
It is based on the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, which has been adapted several times
The new movie makes multiple changes from the original book, including how Cathy and Heathcliff's story ends
Wuthering Heights is soaring to new heights in a highly-anticipated adaptation now in theaters.
As one of the most famous novels of all time, Emily Brontë's 1847 gothic masterpiece has been brought to the screen numerous times over the past century. The latest adaptation is from writer-director Emerald Fennell, and stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as star-crossed lovers, Cathy and Heathcliff.
Wuthering Heights is a classic story, but Fennell's 2026 film ends differently than the original source material, a decision the Oscar-winning screenwriter defended.
"When you look at not just other movie adaptations of this, but Kate Bush's song, or Balthus' lithographs, or a lot of the kind of contemporary illustrations, most of them tend to focus on Cathy and Heathcliff," Fennell told Entertainment Weekly. "Because I think that's really the moment that draws to an end in the book."
"And I think, really, I would do a mini series and encompass the whole thing over 10 hours, and it would be beautiful," she continued. "But if you're making a movie, and you've got to be fairly tight, you've got to make those kinds of hard decisions."
So, with the 2026 Wuthering Heights now in theaters, here's the ending of the movie explained.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Wuthering Heights!
What is Wuthering Heights about?
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in 'Wuthering Heights' (2026)
Warner Bros.
Wuthering Heights is a dark and dramatic reimagining of Brontë's 1847 novel. It follows Catherine "Cathy" Earnshaw (Robbie), who is a young girl when her father takes in a mysterious orphan she names Heathcliff (Elordi).
The two grow up together on the Wuthering Heights estate, and eventually develop deep and passionate feelings for each other.
Cathy ends up marrying her wealthy neighbor Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), causing a heartbroken Heathcliff to leave the Earnshaws' property. He returns years later to find Cathy married, but still holding a candle for him.
The two embark on a love affair that impacts everyone around them, and forever changes their lives.
Do Cathy and Heathcliff end up together?
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in 'Wuthering Heights' (2026)
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
No, Cathy and Heathcliff do not live happily ever after.
The movie doesn't end with them as a romantic couple, but it does conclude with them physically together as Heathcliff visits her body after she has died in bed.
Fennell's Wuthering Heights ends with heartbreak, but it doesn't cover the second half of Brontë's novel. In the book, Cathy's death occurs halfway through, in chapter 16 of 34, according to USA Today.
"The book, obviously, continues on, but [the film] kind of leaves it open that their souls are, for me, sort of forever intertwined when you get to see them in that liminal space together," Elordi told EW.
Is Heathcliff the father of Cathy's baby?
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in 'Wuthering Heights' (2026)
Warner Bros.
No, the father of Cathy's baby is her husband, Edgar.
Despite Cathy being married, she begins an affair with Heathcliff, and when he learns that she's pregnant he asks her if the baby is his.
Cathy reveals to Heathcliff that she found out she was pregnant before Heathcliff re-entered her life after being absent for years.
What happens to Cathy?
Margot Robbe in 'Wuthering Heights' (2026)
Warner Bros.
Cathy dies at the end of Wuthering Heights.
Following her reveal to Heathcliff that her child is Edgar's, she grows distant from Heathcliff, and he then marries Edgar's sister, Isabella Linton (Alison Oliver).
Learning of Heathcliff's marriage, Cathy becomes depressed and remains in her room, rarely leaving her bed. She suffers a miscarriage, which she tells her housekeeper Nelly Dean (Hong Chau) about, but Nelly thinks she is lying for attention.
The whole time, Heathcliff was writing letters to Cathy, but Nelly had been burning them, trying to keep the two lovers apart. Once Nelly realizes Cathy is dying, she tells Heathcliff, but it is too late, and by the time he arrives to see her she has died from sepsis following her miscarriage.
What happens to Heathcliff?
Jacob Elordi in 'Wuthering Heights' (2026)
Warner Bros.
When Nelly tells Heathcliff about Cathy's declining health, he races to be by her side. Sadly, by the time Heathcliff arrives at her manor, she is dead.
In the book, Heathcliff sees Cathy one last time before she dies, but Fennell decided to keep the characters apart in her version.
"It begins where it ends and ends where it begins," she explained to EW. "And that's the thing about love, and it's the thing about the book, right? It's that it's forever and it's cyclical, and so there's no stop — even when there's a terrible, sad, tragic stop, it's not really a stop — because that's what the book feels so much about."
"It's about the depths of human feeling and how it exists in a profound way, not just a physical one," she added. "And so that, I don't know, that felt like the right way to end it for me."
Is Cathy still married at the end of Wuthering Heights?
Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw in 'Wuthering Heights' (2026)
Warner Bros.
Yes, Cathy is still married to Edgar at the end of Wuthering Heights.
While watching over Cathy, Edgar falls asleep by her bedside and he awakens to see she has bled to death. This leads Nelly to deliver the sad news to Heathcliff, who races to see her one last time.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
