It can’t be a coincidence that on the same day Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms reached a $17B teen media addiction settlement, a new trailer for The Social Reckoning arrived. Aaron Sorkin takes over as writer and director this time, sixteen years after The Social Network, to chart what Facebook evolved into in the wake of decisions made by Zuckerberg.
It took Sorkin a while to find the right subject to return to the topic of Facebook, and he found that with whistleblower Frances Haugen’s leak of internal documents to the Wall Street Journal, released in 2021 as “The Facebook Files.”
Oscar winner Mikey Madison stars as Haugen, with Jeremy Allen White as journalist Jeff Horwitz, and Jeremy Strong as Zuckerberg. Sorkin spent days trying to convince Jesse Eisenberg to reprise the role, but he refused. Based on what we’ve seen in trailers, Strong’s version is more confident, stronger, as well he should be, as this Zuckerberg is older, craftier, and richer. He’s no longer figuring out what he wants Facebook to be; by this point the platform has been instrumental in shifting culture and politics.
Also in the cast are Bill Burr, Billy Magnussen, Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Anna Lambe, and Portia Doubleday.
The Social Reckoning hits theaters on October 9th.
