Why Jeremy Strong Refuses to Talk to Jesse Eisenberg About Mark Zuckerberg

Jeremy Strong is adding another real person to his resume: Mark Zuckerberg. Yep. He is starring in Aaron Sorkin's companion to The Social Network, and he is not phoning Jesse Eisenberg for tips first. Different movie, different moment, different Zuckerberg.

Strong's approach: thanks, but no need to compare notes

Jesse Eisenberg made Zuckerberg iconic back in 2010 and picked up his first (and so far only) acting Oscar nomination for it. Strong is not building off that performance.

"I think that has nothing to do with what I’m going to do."

That was Strong to The Hollywood Reporter. Fair enough, considering this new film is set later in the story and pitched as a companion piece rather than a straight sequel. Think Zuckerberg 2.0.

So what is The Social Reckoning actually about?

Title first: it is called The Social Reckoning. Sorkin wrote an original script that shifts the focus to Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and the Wall Street Journal reporting that cracked the whole thing open. Mikey Madison is playing Haugen, and Jeremy Allen White is playing WSJ reporter Jeff Horwitz. The plot tracks how Haugen and Horwitz team up and push into Facebook's most guarded corners until the whole operation gets exposed. It is very much Sorkin territory, and yes, it is designed to live alongside David Fincher's The Social Network rather than retread it.

Strong and Sorkin, back at it

Strong has worked with Sorkin before, on Molly's Game and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (he played counterculture figure Jerry Rubin in that one). He is clearly high on this new script, calling it one of the greats he has read and saying it hits the nerve of where we are right now. He also insists he is approaching Zuckerberg with care, empathy, and objectivity.

If you are keeping score

• Film: The Social Reckoning (a companion to The Social Network)
• Writer: Aaron Sorkin
• Mark Zuckerberg: Jeremy Strong
• Frances Haugen: Mikey Madison
• Jeff Horwitz (Wall Street Journal reporter): Jeremy Allen White
• Release date: October 9, 2026
• First Zuckerberg on film: Jesse Eisenberg in 2010's The Social Network, which earned him his first and only acting Oscar nomination
• Strong's recent real-people run: Roy Cohn in The Apprentice; next up, Springsteen manager Jon Landau in Deliver Me from Nowhere; earlier, Lee Harvey Oswald in Parkland (a role Gary Oldman played in JFK), and yes, Al Pacino famously played Cohn in Angels in America

What makes this one interesting

The casting is sharp across the board (Jeremy Allen White as a dogged reporter is a fun stretch), and Strong refusing to consult Eisenberg is actually the right call for a movie that is about a different era and angle. The comparison game will happen anyway, but this is not a rerun. Different script, different stakes, same platform that keeps getting messier the closer you look.