Emily: release date, plot, cast, trailer and all we know about the new Brontë film

Emma Mackey as Emily Bronte
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Emily tells the story of world-famous author Emily Brontë, who is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights.

The upcoming movie documents her brief yet eventful life as she writes her first book. It also explores the family relationships that inspired her and her real-life romance with Weightman.

Sex Education and Death on the Nile star Emma Mackey plays the titular role of the passionate author who died young, at just 30 years old, along with a host of young talent.

The project has been described as imagining "the transformative, exhilarating and uplifting journey to womanhood of one of the world’s most famous, enigmatic and passionate writers".

Emily is one of many upcoming biopics released this year, with music legend Elvis Presley resurrected for Baz Luhrmann's Elvis and Ana de Armas taking on the role of Hollywood superstar and blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe for Netflix's Blonde.

Here's everything we know about Emily...

Emily release date

Emily will be in cinemas in the UK on Friday, October 14, 2022. A US release date has yet to be announced but it's likely to be 2023.

Emily poster

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

What is the plot of Emily?

According to Warner Bros, the synopsis of the film is: "Emily tells the imagined life of one of the world’s most famous authors, Emily Brontë. The film stars Emma Mackey as Emily, a rebel and misfit, as she finds her voice and writes the literary classic Wuthering Heights

"Emily explores the relationships that inspired her — her raw, passionate sisterhood with Charlotte and Anne; her first aching, forbidden love for Weightman  and her care for her maverick brother whom she idolises."

Debut director Frances O'Connor (Mansfield Park, Mr Selfridge) told Vogue: “Emily Brontë’s writing is steeped in such passion, feeling, violence and fierce intelligence — that I’ve always yearned to know who she really was. Emily is about a rebel and misfit, a young woman daring to form herself, to embrace her true nature, despite the consequences. And, in creating an imagined life for her, I hope Emily Brontë will live again.”

Who is in the cast of Emily?

Emma Mackey, who is due to star in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, leads a star-studded cast of Alexandra Dowling (The Musketeers) as Charlotte Brontë, Amelia Gething (The Spanish Princess) as Anne Brontë, Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House) as Weightman and Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk) as Emily's brother, Branwell.

The film also stars Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty) and Gemma Jones (Gentleman Jack).

Is there a trailer?

You can watch the trailer below where we see Emily's rebellious lifestyle begin to unfold and the criticism she faces from her own family...

First-look photos

Emma Mackey and Oliver Jackson-Cohen in the Emily Bronte movie

Oliver Jackson-Cohen (William Weightman) and Emma Mackey (Emily Bronte) in the movie, Emily. (Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The Bronte family in Emily — the Emily Bronte movie

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Scene from Emily, with 3 characters in a shop — the Emily Bronte movie

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Emma Mackey as Emily Bronte

Sex Education's Emma Mackey plays Emily Brontë. (Image credit: Warner Bros.)
Grace Morris
Staff Writer

Grace is a digital writer with WhatToWatch.com, where she writes series guides, recaps and features for must-watch shows and delivers all the latest soap news and reactions. She graduated from Anglia Ruskin University in 2020 with a degree in Writing and Film Studies, which only made her love for creative writing, film and TV grow stronger.


You'll usually find her watching the drama unfold in the latest reality series or much-loved UK soaps (usually with chocolate by her side!). She's an expert in EastEnders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and everything reality-related from Selling Sunset and Married At First Sight UK to 90 Day Fiancé UK. Plus Netflix megahit Virgin River!


Grace also likes to explore new places with her friends and family and, of course, watch and read about the latest films and TV series.