Jesse Eisenberg is now casting his Mark Zuckerberg persona into the annals of film history. The actor, who brought the Facebook CEO to life in David Fincher's acclaimed film The Social Network, surprised fans when it was revealed in June that a sequel was in the works, yet Eisenberg wouldn't be reprising his lead role. During a Thursday appearance on the Today show, the star of Now You See Me: Now You Don't was asked to elaborate on his decision not to return for The Social Reckoning.
"Listen, for reasons that have nothing to do with how incredible that movie will be, truthfully," Eisenberg shared. "But when you play a character, you reach a point where you feel like you've grown into something else." When pressed on whether he had indeed outgrown the character, he replied, "Yeah, in some ways. But it's a truly wonderful movie. I'm friends with Aaron Sorkin, who wrote and is directing this film, and all the reasons I'm not in it are completely unrelated to how brilliant it will be."
The 2010 film garnered eight Oscar nominations and won three, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Sorkin. It grossed $226 million globally and starred Eisenberg as Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, and Armie Hammer as the Winklevoss twins.
The upcoming sequel, directed and written by Aaron Sorkin for Sony, will see Jeremy Strong take on the role of Zuckerberg. "It's one of the greatest scripts I've ever read," Strong told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month. "It speaks to our time, touches on the third rail of everything happening in our world. It's a great character—fascinating, complex—and I'm approaching it with great care, empathy, and objectivity."
The Succession actor also noted that he had not spoken to Eisenberg about taking over his role. "I think that has nothing to do with what I'm going to do," Strong told THR.
Joining Strong in the cast are Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, and Bill Burr. The film takes place 17 years after the original and follows a young Facebook engineer, Frances Haugen (Madison), and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz (White), who work together to uncover the secrets of the social network.
The Social Reckoning is set to release in theaters over Columbus Day weekend next year.
