Jeremy Strong eyed to play Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network sequel
According to Deadline and Variety, sources claim that though no formal offer has been made, the Succession actor is the preferred pick to play the Meta CEO and Facebook founder in The Social Network Part II, alongside The Bear's Jeremy Allen White and Anora's Mikey Madison in unspecified roles.
Aaron Sorkin, who won a best adapted screenplay Oscar for the first film, will write and direct the new entry after years of tinkering with a new angle to the story of Facebook. David Fincher directed the 2010 film, which starred Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg alongside Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer and Rashida Jones.
The Social Network Part II, confirmed to be in development this June, will reportedly not be a straightforward sequel to the story of Facebook's founding in a Harvard dorm room, but rather a follow-up focusing on recent controversy surrounding the social media behemoth. The new screenplay will be based on reporting by Jeff Horowitz for the Wall Street Journal in a series called The Facebook Files, which explored the inner workings and harm caused by the company. The 2021 investigation exposed how internal findings had been buried, as well as Facebook's influence on the January 6 riot and the mental health of teenage users.
Deadline reports that White would ideally play Horowitz, with Madison – fresh off her best actress Oscar win this March – playing the whistleblower at the heart of the articles.
Sorkin had previously teased more overt political leanings for the new script. 'I blame Facebook for January 6,' he said in 2024 on a special edition of The Town podcast, live from Washington DC. When asked to explain why, he responded: 'You're gonna need to buy a movie ticket.
'Facebook has been, among other things, tuning its algorithm to promote the most divisive material possible,' Sorkin said. He added: 'There is supposed to be a constant tension at Facebook between growth and integrity – there isn't.'
The Social Network, based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, made $224m worldwide in 2010 and won three Oscars – best adapted screenplay, original score and editing. Eisenberg, who was nominated for his starring role, is yet to be attached to the new project.
In a recent podcast interview, Zuckerberg was critical of the film, which portrayed him as calculating and ruthless. '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.'
Strong received an Emmy for his portrayal of Succession's Kendall Roy on the acclaimed HBO series, among many other accolades. He was nominated for an Oscar this year for playing the fearsome attorney and Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, Ali Abbasi's film tracing the young Trump's rise in 1980s New York. He will next appear on screen alongside White in the Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere, playing the record producer and Springsteen collaborator Jon Landau.
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