Jacob Elordi is single, just in time

There’s been some speculation the last few weeks about the status of Jacob Elordi’s relationship with Olivia Jade Giannulli, who’ve been together, on and off, since 2021. Then yesterday, PEOPLE with the exclusive that they recently broke up which isn’t all that surprising. She’s 25, he’s 28, and the issue here could be timing, at least where he’s concerned. 

Jacob stars in two highly anticipated films scheduled for release over the next six months and promotion starts soon as Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein will make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the end of the month. Guillermo has been committed to this film for over a decade, it took years and years and years for him to realise his vision. He’s exactly the right person in this era to put his signature spin on this particular story. And since we all know what he’s capable of, there’s an audience out there coming into this movie with expectations. 

Last week Vanity Fair had the exclusive first look, including a shot of Jacob as the monster. Reaction to the images was largely positive because, well, unsurprisingly if you know Guillermo’s work, the visuals are sumptuous. Frankenstein has never been my thing but even I want to see it now because the cinematography looks exquisite. Plus, Oscar Isaac. 

Given Guillermo’s talent and also track record with the Academy, Frankenstein is already on most early Oscar prediction lists. After touring through the fall festivals, the movie will open in theatres in November to secure Oscar eligibility before streaming on Netflix, positioning it firmly during award season. Which means Jacob will be in the conversation basically from Venice through the end of the year – as part of the Frankenstein team. It’s possible that he could be in contention for individual consideration but the field is looking pretty competitive this year and, interestingly enough, one of the names coming up in contention for Best Supporting Actor is Andrew Garfield, in Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt. Andrew was originally cast as Guillermo’s monster but due to the Hollywood strikes, there ended up being a scheduling conflict and he had to drop out. 

Frankenstein campaigning should keep Jacob pretty busy through the end of the year and, if it is part of the Oscar mix, the beginning of 2026. At which point promotion will overlap with Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. It’s a gothic back-to-back for him with these two projects as Wuthering Heights opens on Valentine’s Day. 

Just before PEOPLE’s report on Jacob and Olivia yesterday, World of Reel reported that Wuthering Heights was test-screened in Dallas this week and met with mixed reaction. Emerald’s take on the story is reportedly “unromantic”, which it should be because Cathy and Heathcliffe’s relationship was f-cked and, frankly, considering Emerald’s previous work, romanticising it would never be her style. What was screened was apparently very much in line with what we’ve seen from Emerald in Killing Eve, Promising Young Woman, and Saltburn. There are several “hyper-sexualised” scenes, and some kink bordering on depravity – supposedly a scene involving someone masturbating while being executed in front of a crowd that gets off on it. 

As I wrote back in May in a mailbag column for The Squawk, this film is playing with multiple levels of discomfort. So I have a hard time believing that a “mixed reaction” would have been a surprise for the filmmakers and the studio. In fact, provocation and controversy is probably how this movie will be marketed, to go along with the ongoing debate over whether or not Jacob Elordi was the right choice to play Heathcliffe. 

The point is, we’re in for a lot of him over the next half year or so. And now, conveniently, we know he’s single. Can Jacob make the leap to A-list? Squawk! (App link here)