The first trailer for Aaron Sorkin's eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Social Network has landed. The Social Reckoning has been described as a film that is not a "straight sequel" but one that will revisit Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
The drama is based on The Wall Street Journal series The Facebook Files, which examined the damage caused by the social networking site and how internal findings had been buried.
Zuckerberg will be played by Jeremy Strong, the Succession star who was also Oscar-nominated for his performance in The Apprentice. "It's one of the great scripts I've ever read," Strong said last year. "It speaks to our time, it touches the third rail of everything happening in our world."
In the trailer, his character prepares to give congressional testimony after whistleblower Frances Haugen disclosed confidential documents to journalist Jeff Horwitz. "I'm not two years out of a dorm room any more," he says, while also describing himself as a "free speech absolutist".
The character was previously played by Jesse Eisenberg, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance. When Strong was asked if he had spoken to Eisenberg, he said it "has nothing to do with what I'm going to do".
Haugen will be played by Mikey Madison, who won the best actress Oscar for her performance in Sean Baker's Anora. "I don't want to be made an example of by a guy with unlimited resources," the character says in the trailer.
Horwitz will be played by Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), with the remaining cast including Wunmi Mosaku (Oscar nominee for The Sinners), Bill Burr, and Betty Gilpin.
"It's a real David and Goliath story," Sorkin has said of the film. Sorkin will act as both writer and director. His last film was the Nicole Kidman-led Lucille Ball biopic Being the Ricardos.
The Social Network was a critical and commercial hit in 2010, making $224 million worldwide and winning three Oscars, including best adapted screenplay for Sorkin.
The Social Reckoning will be released on 9 October, with a fall festival premiere likely.
