Who Cares About Pride And Prejudice’s New Darcy? Austen Knew He Was Never The Real Romantic Lead

When it comes to film adaptations of beloved books, protective fans are rarely happy with the casting.

For instance, Saltburn director Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, has been criticised; some say the actors are of the wrong age and that Heathcliff has been “whitewashed”. 

But the casting of Dolly Alderton’s upcoming Pride And Prejudice series which sees Olivia Colman play Mrs Bennet (fans see this as “perfect”) and Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet, has irked some Austen lovers for a different reason.

They are simply too attached to “their” Darcy.

One fan wrote that the 2005 version, which includes Matthew MacFayden as Darcy and Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth, is the “only” one for them. 

I’ll admit my knee-jerk response was to think “But who can play Darcy like Colin Firth?”, the actor whose 1995 BBC role inspired Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding to create her version of the “well market-researched” character.

That loyalty left some irate at Jack Lowden’s casting. But let’s be honest with ourselves (and true to the books) here – does Darcy even matter? After all, his home is the real love affair. 

As Helen Fielding, who adapted the novel for Bridget Jones, says: “I always think it’s rather funny that the point at which Elizabeth Bennet really decides she liked Mr Darcy was when she saw his great big house in the country.” 

Indeed a tongue-in-cheek Austen, who never ignores the material considerations of women’s marital arrangements, only explicitly says Elizabeth feels “something very like regret” for turning Darcy’s initial proposal down after she visits Pemblerley and muses: “Of this place, I might have been mistress!

“With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own…”

And when asked by her sister when, exactly, she realised she loved her previous nemesis Darcy, Elizabeth replies: “It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began; but I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.” 

A 2023 comment from economist Peter Kenway in The Guardian suggests that Lizzie’s practical attitude might be uniquely relevant to viewers today. 

He claimed we could soon see a “Jane Austen-style marriage market, as millennials without an inheritance try to partner up with millennials who stand to inherit a house” – indeed house prices haven’t been as high relative to wages since the 1800s (the author penned her classic in 1787, but it came out in 1813).

Speaking to HuffPost UK recently, couples and sex therapist Emily Lambert Robins said that the housing crisis might be to blame for our endless “situationships” too. 

“Lack of space means fewer chances to cook for someone, watch movies, or simply exist together without pressure,” she told us.

“These experiences are where emotional intimacy often grows. Without them, connections can stall at the surface.”

So, instead of attaching ourselves to “our” Darcy, maybe newer viewers will find themselves loyal to the locations instead (2005′s Pemberley was shot in the grand Chatsworth House; 1995′s exterior was Lyme Park). 

Here’s hoping the house in the upcoming Netflix version is just as dishy…