I keep forgetting that they’re really going to make The Social Network Part II. You have to hand it to Aaron Sorkin in particular – this is probably one of the most unconventional ways to make a sequel about real people. I also hate to admit that the first film f–king slaps. Jesse Eisenberg is fantastic as Mark Zuckerberg, and Andrew Garfield was quite brilliant as Eduardo Saverin. The less said about Justin Timberlake’s performance as Sean Parker, the better. Same with Armie Hammer as the Winklevoss twins. In retrospect, Sorkin and director David Fincher really threaded a particularly prescient needle of showing just how toxic and dystopian social media would become. Well, Sorkin is writing the script for the sequel and Sorkin is also attached to direct this one. It looks like they’re just going to completely recast Zuckerberg – I wonder if that was Jesse’s call, or if Sorkin just wants a fresh start with a different actor. “Who will be cast as Zuckerberg?” is a question which has been rolling around Hollywood. Well, it looks like Sorkin may have found his guy: Jeremy Strong. Eh??

Jeremy Strong is in line for a role in the upcoming The Social Network Part II, and sources say he is the top choice to play META CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Sources say no formal offer has been presented but that he is the top choice.

Deadline first reported last night that Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison are top choices to star in the follow-up movie, with Aaron Sorkin writing and directing. Sony and reps for Strong had no comment.

Deadline first reported in June that Sorkin would direct and pen a sequel after years of figuring out what angle he wanted to pursue telling the next chapter in the Facebook story. The new film project is in development with Todd Black, Peter Rice, Sorkin and Stuart Besser producing. In the first film, Zuckerberg was played by Jesse Eisenberg, who went on to receive an Oscar nomination for the role.

The film is not a straight sequel but rather a follow-up to the original 2010 movie that explored the beginnings of what would become the world’s biggest social media platform. Sorkin’s original screenplay for the new movie explores the story behind the Wall Street Journal‘s The Facebook Files by Jeff Horowitz, an explosive series of articles published in October 2021 that exposed the inner workings of — and multiple harms caused by — Facebook. Ideally, White would play Horowitz and Madison would play the whistleblower behind the series of articles.

[From Deadline]

I love Jeremy Strong and I think he’s a tremendously talented actor. I also kind of think he reads on-screen as “too old” to play Zuckerberg though. Strong is only five years older than Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg and Zuck are the same age), but Strong just feels a lot older, right? And part of that is because Zuckerberg still seems so young, or he exists in the zeitgeist as a 20-something. I don’t know. I know Strong will work his ass off no matter what, which is probably what they’re counting on. Bringing in Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison is interesting too – Mikey has not been in a rush to book jobs following her Oscar win, and if this is one of her first big roles since Anora, that’s a fascinating career trajectory.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.