Image: Warner Bros
If you felt uneasy watching “Wuthering Heights”, it’s not just you – that’s exactly how director Emerald Fennel wanted you to feel. Working with production designer Suzie Davies, the aim was for the sets to provoke a “slightly disconcerting feeling” and “uncanny vibe”, as Emerald explained to Hot Press.
The 2026 film adaptation starring Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff doesn’t even attempt to be historically accurate, and the interiors are no exception. “In Emerald’s world, we take everything that bit further,” Suzie told British Vogue of the set design.
Some viewers have described it as a fever dream, others as fanfic, but the sets certainly make it clear that this is a maximalist interpretation of the novel, originally published in 1847. There’s a lot to take in and, even if you’ve seen it, there are countless symbols and micro details you might have missed. It’s “like circling Where’s Wally in a book” says Emerald.
Decoding every unhinged detail has kept viewers busy, including on a post by TikTok creator @angelina.cleo, who pointed out the soot lines above the fireplace that “grow darker in every progressing scene, almost as if the house is absorbing and personifying the decay of the characters inhabiting it”.
It got us diving deep into what else we might have missed. These are some of the micro details worth looking out for.
All of the hidden details in Wuthering Heights
1. Hair symbolism
The movie title is woven in brunette and blonde hair (designed based on Margot and Jacob’s actual hair). This is a nod to the book which sees housekeeper Nelly weave Catherine’s hair with a piece of Heathcliff’s in a locket. Some say they’ve spotted lice in this opening to the movie… tell us if you see them.
2. Wuthering Heights set like a book
The way the Wuthering Heights house and surrounding mountain are shaped like a book, complete with a line down the middle like pages splayed open.
3. The red river
Seen at the start, the river looks a lot like blood – a foreshadowing of what’s to come. Red is a recurring colour, very present at Thrushcross Grange and in Catherine’s outfits progressively more as the movie continues.
4. Death spelled out
At the start of the movie, the song lyrics say “I think I’m gonna die in this house” and Catherine dies in the house at the end. Also, in her first bedroom at Wuthering Heights, it says ‘If I should die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take’ on the bedspread – beneath seven hanging dolls. Could this signify seven key deaths from the book?
5. Names on window
Catherine’s name is written with three different surnames, but it’s only connected when it’s Catherine and Heathcliff – as seen in this Airbnb experience shared by Wallpaper showing a replica of Catherine’s room.
6. Surrealist sets
From the giant strawberry to the vases full of fish (a nod to Romeo + Juliet) and piranha-like fish in the jelly that Catherine ahem… inserts her finger into – it reinforces the concept of Catherine being like a doll in a dollhouse. The strawberry scene could also be a reference to strawberry-picking parties that were once popular.
7. Fake fur
It “absolutely wasn’t around in the 19th century” but Suzie still wanted to include fake fur in the sets. You’ll see red fake fur lining the grand staircase, and Isabella’s room has fake fur “hidden under the chairs in an ombre purple to blue”.
8. Creepy hands
There are a lot of hands used in the Grange house set. “All the ceiling roses had bespoke hands made for them – we actually sculpted the hands of the people in our art department,” Suzie told British Vogue. “The hands on the wall sconces in this room, that’s one of the prop guys’ hands in different forms. The hands are doing shadow puppetry around the top of the walls – and there are, of course, a couple of rude ones; fingers going into holes.”
9. Rose-tinted glasses
During the montage when Catherine appears to be revelling in the luxuries of the Grange, she’s quite literally wearing rose-tinted glasses – genius.
10. Real fire
“Where possible, we use real candles – double wicked, for more dramatic light,” said Suzie. In one scene where a room was filled with candles, the actress who plays Isabella, Alison Oliver, heard a sizzling sound and told the crew “I’m on fire” as her wig had caught alight, she shared in an interview. Jacob apparently extinguished it with his bare hands – we’d expect nothing less.
11. The swing scene
This scene, where Isabella is pushing Catherine on the swing seems to reference ‘The Swing’, in which the woman in the artwork is being pushed by her husband while being admired by her lover in the bushes.
12. Skin wall
The wall in Catherine’s room was designed to replicate Margot Robbie’s actual skin, complete with ‘hairs’ growing out of ‘moles’ and an oil-slick layer to achieve the impression of sweating. “We had Margot photograph her skin, particularly her veins and freckles,” Emerald told HotPress. “Then it was a very long process of figuring out the best way to make it – in the end, it was padded panelling with printed crepe with her skin on it, and latex overlay.”
13. Nature taking over
The idea was to create the feeling that nature is taking over the Wuthering Heights house. “At Wuthering Heights, we’d built this big rock face that’s poking into the kitchen out of expanded foam moulds,” said Suzie.
14. Leeches
When Catherine is being treated with the old remedy of leeches on her skin, they’re also crawling up the walls – reinforcing the idea that the room itself is a continuation of her.
15. Green with envy
Edgar is wearing green when he finds out about Cathy and Heathcliff and has a green bedroom, signifying he’s quite literally green with envy.
16. White veil
The white veil Catherine wears on her way to marry Edgar has been likened to the close-up of the person being hung at the start, trying to breathe through the sack over their head.
17. Black veil
At her father’s funeral, Catherine wears a black veil and Heathcliff removes it to kiss her in secret – as if they’re married only in death.
18. Single different colour
In a room of all black and white tiles, there is one brown one – possibly a nod to Heathcliff, who is a person of colour in the book. Similarly, in the Wuthering Heights house when it belongs to Heathcliff, you can see one red pane in the window.
19. People as pets
When they’re children, Catherine is given Heathcliff as a pet by her father and even names him. Later, Heathcliff treats Isabella (pictured) as his pet – dog collar and all.
20. Dollhouses and voodoo dolls
There’s a dollhouse mini version of the Grange that Isabella shows Catherine. She makes dolls of herself and Catherine to go inside. She also has a dollhouse in her own room. When things sour between Catherine and Isabelle, the mini Cathy doll is seen laying down with a knife in her back – just like Isabella does to her in real life – akin to a voodoo doll.
