Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Darcy, Emma Woodhouse, Anne Elliot, Elinor Dashwood, and Fanny Price are but some of the characters popularised in English literature whom readers adore dearly. Not just readers, a whole generation of movie and TV fans also name Jane Austen characters and stories as their favourite. It has been 30 years since we first saw Colin Firth emerge out of the lake in BBC's Pride and Prejudice and Kate Winslet have her breakthrough performance as the younger Dashwood sister in Sense and Sensibility. Once again, Hollywood is remaking both these stories for a whole new generation. 250 years after the birth of Jane Austen on December 16, 1775, we examine what it is about these stories that makes them so irresistible.
Enduring appeal of Jane Austen over decades
It is a sad irony that Jane Austen wrote some of the most enduring love stories, which have been translated and remade around the world. Yet the author died at 41 and never found the 'perfect' partner that her fans found in her works. Austen wrote about her astute observations on class and society with wit and a good dose of realism. Her characters, both male and female, were passionate, headstrong, and willing to risk it all for love. Two centuries later, there is little doubt why fans can see themselves in these stories even though they are not from the same time or place. Little has changed.
While the 1995 version of
Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle is streaming on BBC Player, Netflix has commissioned a whole new series for 2026.
Slow Horses star Jack Lowden takes over the role of Mr. Darcy, and
The Crown's Emma Corrin plays Elizabeth Bennet. Another
The Crown star, Olivia Colman, is set to play Elizabeth's meddling mother, Mrs. Bennet, in the latest adaptation. Rufus Sewell, Daryl McCormack, Fiona Shaw, and Louis Partridge round out the rest of the cast.
A theatrical remake of
Sense and Sensibility is also arriving next year.
Normal People's Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles are playing the Dashwood sisters Elinor and Marianne, respectively, while Caitríona Balfe, Frank Dillane, George MacKay, and Fiona Shaw make up the rest of the ensemble cast.
Frequent remakes of Jane Austen's work
Every five or ten years like clockwork, Austen's most famous stories are remade for the big and small screen. For several young actors in Hollywood, be it Gwyneth Paltrow or Anya Taylor-Joy, it becomes a rite of passage to be cast in an Austen adaptation. For the men, if you've been cast as Darcy, then you know you've truly made it. Austen's inspirations are all over film and TV, with Bridget Jones' Diary casting Firth as an alternate modern version of Darcy or
Bridgerton recreating that lake scene with Jonathan Bailey, leaving little to the imagination with his see-through white shirt.
Even in Indian cinema, there have been a handful of adaptations. Sonam Kapoor played the matchmaking heroine Emma in
Aisha (2010) and Rajiv Menon's 2000 Tamil film
Kandukondain Kandukondain, which boasted of a star cast of Mammootty, Ajith Kumar, Tabu, Aishwarya Rai, and Abbas. Tabu and Aishwarya gave wonderful portrayals of the Dashwood sisters in Tamil Nadu.
Jane Austen's life on screen
Not just Austen's works, but also her life story has been reinterpreted for the big screen in films such as
Becoming Jane (2007) and
Miss Austen Regrets (2007). Actresses like Anne Hathaway and Olivia Williams attempted to take viewers through the author's inner monologues, her failed romances, and her connections with family. Like her stories, there is a fascination still about the elusive author who died in the prime of her life.
Over time, Austen's stories have also kept up with the times. From memes to color-blind casting, Jane Austen's works still matter, and her biting wit is still as sharp as ever. One thing's for sure: the Jane Austen Cinematic Universe is here to stay.
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