Hollywood just dropped some major casting news that has everyone talking. Jeremy Strong, the Emmy-winning Succession star, is officially set to play Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin‘s highly anticipated sequel to The Social Network, now titled The Social Reckoning. And honestly? This casting choice feels pretty perfect.
So here’s the scoop: Strong is stepping into the role previously played by Jesse Eisenberg, who earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the Facebook founder in the 2010 original. The new film isn’t exactly a direct sequel, though. Instead, The Social Reckoning is described as a “companion piece” to The Social Network and is set nearly two decades after Zuckerberg and his fellow programmers launched the platform that would go on to dominate global communication.
What makes this casting particularly intriguing is Strong’s reputation for method acting. Best known for playing Kendall Roy in Succession, Strong is known for his method acting technique, in which the actor tries to immerse themselves in the mental and emotional state of the character. One tech journalist jokingly noted that “if Strong suddenly takes up MMA fighting and gets really excited about a social metaverse that no one wants, then we’ll know that filming is imminent.”
The story this time around focuses on much more recent events. The film centers around Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee who leaked a massive trove of internal documents to a Wall Street Journal reporter and accused the company of prioritizing “profits over people” in 2021. Mikey Madison, fresh off her Oscar win, will play Haugen, while Jeremy Allen White from The Bear takes on the role of the Wall Street Journal reporter.
Sony Pictures announced that The Social Reckoning will hit theaters on October 9, 2026, with production expected to begin next month. This time around, Sorkin is pulling double duty as both writer and director, whereas David Fincher directed the original film.
The timing couldn’t be more relevant. Sorkin has been teasing a follow-up to The Social Network since 2024 and has publicly said that he blames Facebook for the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg and Facebook — rebranded to Meta shortly after Haugen’s leaks — have always rankled at how “The Social Network” depicts the company’s origin.
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg revealed in an interview that he saw the original movie one time as part of an outing with other Facebook employees. “It was weird, man,” he said. “They got all these very specific details of what I was wearing, or these specific things correct, but then the whole narrative arc around my motivations and all this stuff were like, completely wrong.”
Now we get to see how Strong’s interpretation compares to Eisenberg’s iconic performance. Given the darker, more complex territory this sequel plans to explore, Strong’s serious dramatic chops might be exactly what the story needs. The original film made over $224 million worldwide and earned eight Oscar nominations, so expectations are definitely high for this follow-up.
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