Another day, another legacyquel. According to a report in Deadline Wednesday, next on the docket is The Social Network Part II, with Aaron Sorkin—who penned the script for the original film—returning to write and direct. There’s no word on casting yet, but the report says the film will cover recent leaks, legal issues, and controversies that have happened at Facebook.
If your reaction to this is “but why?” you’re not alone. The Social Network was a wildly successful film, raking in $224 million worldwide after its release in 2010 and becoming one of the most critically adored films of the past 25 years. Even so, I can’t say that a sequel was a given—it’s very rare that biopics get a second installment, especially when they pretty much nailed it on the first try. So naturally, some questions came to mind as I read the news—let’s dive into my attempts to answer them.
So, a Social Network sequel is in development. Have people been asking for this?
Maybe I’m just speaking for myself here, but I’m going to say no. I’m a person who watches Eduardo find out his Facebook shares were diluted to 0.03 percent weekly, but I wouldn’t say I’ve been clamoring for a sequel. In fact, I would say the real sequel was everything that happened to Facebook in real life after the movie came out! The Social Network was so prescient in its portrayal of tech culture that a sequel seems like it would just undermine that. I can’t imagine fans are thrilled that David Fincher’s not involved, either. But maybe Sony execs saw so many people put The Social Network in their cute little New York Times movie ballots that they gave the sequel the green light. If you’re upset about this, blame Film Twitter!
So much has happened with Facebook since The Social Network came out in 2010. What is this movie supposed to cover?
Deadline reports that Part II will be based on The Wall Street Journal’s The Facebook Files series, which chronicled internal leaks from Facebook that found that the company was aware that its platforms had an adverse effect on teens’ body image and that they were used in spreading misinformation and promoting violence and hate speech. The leaks also revealed that Facebook exempted high-profile users from the website’s rules. Sorkin has said that Facebook’s involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol sparked his inspiration to pursue a sequel, but Deadline reports that “the new film isn’t a ‘January 6’ movie and will focus not just on the 2020 election but also Facebook’s effect on teens, preteens, violence and countries outside the U.S.”
Didn’t a lot of that stuff just happen recently?
Yep! The Facebook Files was published in 2021. But doesn’t reliving the 2020 election sound so fun right now? And not just that, but reliving it through the eyes of a wealth-hoarding billionaire whose platform is responsible for spreading QAnon conspiracy theories? Sign me up!
OK, I’m sensing some sarcasm. But we really have seen a lot of Mark Zuckerberg in the 15 years since The Social Network came out. Do we know too much about him now?
What made The Social Network such a profound exploration of Facebook and the tech boom is that it focused only on the website’s origin and interpersonal relationships and didn’t have to address the many, many public controversies that came after. The film’s climax takes place as Facebook hits 1 million members—it now has about 3 billion. The Social Network’s release in 2010 came only two years after Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest billionaire at age 23. It might be hard to remember now, but other than a general wunderkind reputation, we actually didn’t know that much about Zuckerberg at the time. His relative anonymity allowed Fincher and Sorkin to project their ideas about tech onto the character without being beholden to accuracy. Sure, there are plot devices in the movie that are false—for one thing, the Rooney Mara character was completely fictional, and Zuckerberg had already met his now-wife, Priscilla Chan, during the time covered in The Social Network. And Jesse Eisenberg’s performance doesn’t totally ring true to the Zuckerberg we know today—it’s hard to imagine the awkward, dodgy guy we’ve seen testify before Congress about Facebook’s data breaches deliver the “checking your math” bit. But the movie was more interested in what Zuckerberg and Facebook represented, and by not having to strictly adhere to the facts, it was extremely successful in capturing a petty and cutthroat tech culture that was about to wield unmitigated power over our institutions.
But now? We’ve seen Zuckerberg surf in Banana Boat whiteface, attempt to look human behind Instagram filters, and put his hopes into $40,000 gold chains to rehabilitate his image. We simply know too much about the man! Any depiction on-screen will immediately be compared to the guy we saw dress like a Conner O’Malley character for his 40th birthday, not to mention the movie will be expected to address the massive legal issues that have surrounded Facebook since the original film came out. This doesn’t sound conducive to a thoughtful reckoning on tech culture but rather a standard biopic rehashing of events that we already saw take place very publicly not that long ago.
Plus, it seems like Jesse Eisenberg has been pretty busy lately. Is he coming back for the sequel?
Deadline’s report says it’s currently unknown whether Eisenberg is involved in the sequel. We can assume that other characters from the original film won’t return—as much as I’d love to see Andrew Garfield yell about his Prada and fuck-you flip-flops some more, Eduardo Saverin has hardly been involved in Facebook since his lawsuit against Zuckerberg was settled in 2009, and he’s been living in Singapore ever since to avoid capital gains taxes. Happy ending! Plus, the Winklevoss twins became crypto bros, and even Sean Parker has been largely out of the public eye since stepping down as Facebook’s president following a 2005 drug-related arrest that was dramatized at the end of The Social Network. (That all said, I’d support an angle that somehow brings back Brenda Song’s character. I’d love to knock back a couple appletinis with her!)
But Eisenberg’s performance as Zuckerberg is one of the most iconic screen roles of the 21st century. Without him, a sequel would feel wholly unrelated to the original. However, what might cause a snag in that casting is that he’s recently been building his own career as a writer-director—he’s coming off a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nod for last year’s A Real Pain—and is already working on his next feature, a musical comedy starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s too busy (and not exactly eager) to return to the role that nearly typecast him.
If Eisenberg doesn’t return, who’s your choice to play Zuck?
I guess you can’t mention a prominent leading man role without throwing Timothée Chalamet out there, even though he’s completely the wrong age (though Zuck’s 40th birthday party fit isn’t totally far off from what Timmy was wearing on the Knicks’ sideline). Same with Austin Butler, and I don’t think we as a society are prepared to hear him speak in Zuckerberg’s robotic tone for the foreseeable future. I say we take a swing—let’s get Cate Blanchett in there! I mean, what is Mark Zuckerberg if not Lydia Tár plus Bob Dylan?
We know Fincher’s not coming back, but are we sure about Aaron Sorkin as a director?
I am sure, actually! I’m quite sure that he is not good at directing. Say what you will about Sorkin’s writing—sure, it can be overwrought, especially when it’s set to a full five minutes of “Fix You,” but who doesn’t want to lib out to A Few Good Men every once in a while? Even into the 2010s, he wrote some truly excellent scripts in The Social Network and Moneyball, but things range from baffling to catastrophic when he steps into the director’s chair. With no one around to rein in his preachy and complicated tendencies, we’ve gotten Molly’s Game’s excessively elaborate plotlines and The Trial of the Chicago 7’s treacly neoliberalism. Sorkin’s last writer-director gig, 2021’s Being the Ricardos, provided us with some of the most joyless explanations of comedy since, well, Sorkin wrote Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It does not bode well that Facebook’s recent history contains complex legal drama as well as opportunities for some self-important monologuing.
Will The Social Network Part II actually get made?
One of my favorite places on the internet is the “David Fincher’s unrealized projects” Wikipedia article. (Did you know Fincher was originally supposed to direct the chef movie that eventually became Burnt, starring Bradley Cooper? Whodathunk!) While Fincher isn’t attached to The Social Network Part II, he’s close enough to the thing that I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets dragged into development hell just by association. (The Adventures of Cliff Booth, you’re on notice, too.)
If Sorkin’s directing The Social Network Part II and Fincher’s directing a Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood sequel, does that mean Quentin Tarantino is going to direct Molly’s Game 2?
Quentin, I think we’ve finally cracked your final film.
