The trailer for The Social Reckoning dropped today, and the internet already has some thoughts.
Nearly sixteen years after The Social Network premiered in 2010, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is back with a sequel. This time around, Sorkin, who won an Oscar for writing the original film’s screenplay, is also directing. Depending on your feelings about his recent directing work—The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Being the Ricardos—that may or may not be a such a good thing.
The original movie, which chronicled the origins of Facebook, was directed by David Fincher, known for Fight Club, Gone Girl, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Unfortuanatley, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are also not returning to score the sequel.
So it’s probably safe to expect at least somewhat of a different tone for this new movie.
But that’s not all that’s changed. This time, Succession star Jeremy Strong is playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, complete with a matching hair color change and a pretty solid impression of his voice. He is replacing Jesse Eisenberg, who played a college-aged Zuckerberg in the original.
“People around here understand that when I say ‘no,’ that’s the end of the debate,” Strong, playing an older Zuckerberg, yells at a character portrayed by Bill Burr in the trailer. “I’m not two years out of a dorm room anymore, Charlie, look around!”
The story takes place years after the events of the first film, after Facebook has transformed from a college startup into one of the most valuable companies in the world. It is based on The Facebook Files, a Wall Street Journal seriers on leaked documents disclosed by whistleblower Frances Haugen, played here by Anora’s Mikey Madison. The Bear star Jeremy Allen White plays Wall Street Journal technology reporter Jeff Horwitz.
The original film has become a classic and helped shape the public’s view of Zuckerberg. So naturally, the trailer for the sequel has people talking.
“Some films should be protected landmarks you’re not allowed to make sequels to,” wrote one X user after the trailer dropped.
“Social Network sequel with no Fincher or Eisenberg and directed by Sorkin sounded awful in the first place but that trailer is somehow worse than I imagined,” wrote another X user.
Pop-culture writer Hunter Harris simply wrote on X, “‘she’s disrupting’ lmaoooo,” referring to the trailer’s closing line, delivered by White’s character while talking about Madison’s Haugen.
Not all of the online chatter has been bad. Film critic Jeff Zhang posted a screenshot of Jeremy Strong in the trailer with the caption, “lmao they kinda nailed that shit.”
The Social Reckoning is set to hit theaters in the United States on October 9, 2026. It’ll be fun to see what the internet has to say once the full movie is finally out.
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