NEED TO KNOW
Jesse Eisenberg declined to reprise his role as Mark Zuckerberg, 16 years after playing him in The Social Network
Writer and director Aaron Sorkin told Vanity Fair that Eisenberg was uncomfortable with being associated with the tech CEO
Jeremy Strong took on the role, with Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison costarring
If you were hoping Jesse Eisenberg would reprise his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for the movie’s follow-up, The Social Reckoning, you’re not alone — writer and director Aaron Sorkin was too.
The A Real Pain writer and star, 42, played a young Zuckerberg, now also 42, as he was founding Facebook in 2010’s The Social Network alongside a starry crew that included Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer. So when Sorkin, 65, who wrote the original movie and is at the helm of the companion piece, wrote a script for the 2026 movie, Eisenberg was his first choice to reprise the role.
“I felt like it belonged to him, and he was certainly battle-tested,” Sorkin told Vanity Fair in an interview published June 12.
Aaron Sorkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Armie Hammer (photobomb) during the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 16, 2011
Credit: Vince Bucci/Getty
However, Eisenberg turned him down. Sorkin said he spent three days attempting to convince the Oscar-winning writer to take on the role, but Eisenberg didn’t budge.
“He simply did not want to be conflated with Mark Zuckerberg anymore, that he has his problems with the guy,” Sorkin explained. “He doesn’t like kids coming up to him in airports with business cards that say ‘I’m CEO, b—-‘ for him to sign.”
Jesse Eisenberg in ‘The Social Network’
Credit: Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock
As fate would have it, it was at the same 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar party where Sorkin first approached Eisenberg with a script that Jeremy Strong ran into the writer and asked what he was up to. When Sorkin told him he was writing The Social Reckoning, Strong, 47, indicated that if Eisenberg didn’t want the part, he would be interested.
A year later, Strong starred as Zuckerberg alongside Jeremy Allen White as Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz and Mikey Madison as whistleblower Frances Haugen in the first trailer for the movie, which was released on June 11.
France Haugen (Mikey Madison) and Jeff Horowitz (Jeremy Allen White) in Columbia Pictures’ THE SOCIAL RECKONING.
Credit: Leah Gallo
While the initial movie told the story of how Facebook came to be, this one focuses on the company’s biggest secrets. These include the 2021 WSJ exposé alleging Facebook allowed the accounts of high-profile users to bypass its rules, permitting some to post material inciting violence or harassment; downplayed data showing Instagram is harmful to young teens, namely girls; and made changes to its algorithm that made people “angrier,” among other allegations.
Zuckerberg denied the claims in an October 2021 letter on Facebook, writing that the allegations were “deeply illogical.”
Sorkin said Strong, who is known for his deep research into all of his characters, was ready to go from day one on set.
“[I] followed his lead,” the director told Vanity Fair. “He showed up on his first day, and when he said ‘good morning’ to me, he was already talking like Mark.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The Social Reckoning releases in theaters on Oct. 9.
Read the original article on People