Jeremy Strong is reportedly being eyed to play Mark Zuckerberg in the forthcoming Social Network sequel.
In June, Aaron Sorkin announced that he was working on a sequel to the 2010 docudrama about Facebook’s origin story. His sequel would be based on “The Facebook Files” series, an investigation into the world’s largest social media platform by The Wall Street Journal which exposed the inner workings of the company.
In the original film directed by David Fincher, Zuckerberg was played by Jesse Eisenberg and co-founder Eduardo Saverin by Andrew Garfield.
Deadline reported earlier Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White were being considered for two major roles. On Thursday, the outlet said Strong was the top choice to play the tech businessman.
No cast member for the sequel has been officially announced, however.
It is being speculated that Oscar winner Madison will play Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who went to The Wall Street Journal with information and White will play Jeff Horwitz, the journalist who wrote the series.
Sources speaking to Deadline said no formal offers had been made yet.
The Independent has reached out to representatives for Strong and Sony for comment.
Last year, Sorkin hinted that The Social Network Part II would not be a straightforward sequel.
“I blame Facebook for January 6,” he said on podcast The Town, referring to the Capitol riots.
When asked to specify how we would tackle the link between Facebook and the riots which saw Donald Trump supporters storm the US Capitol Building, he replied: “You’re gonna need to buy a movie ticket.”
He continued: “Facebook has been, among other things, tuning its algorithm to promote the most divisive material possible, because that is what will increase engagement. That is what will get you to, what they call inside the hallways of Facebook, ‘the infinite scroll’. There’s supposed to be a constant tension at Facebook between growth and integrity. There isn’t; there’s just growth.”
The Social Network was a critical and commercial success, grossing over £163m worldwide and winning several Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Sorkin.
Zuckerberg has been critical of the film. “It was weird man,” he said on a recent episode of The Colin and Samir Show. “They got all these very specific details of what I was wearing or these specific things correct, but then the whole narrative around my motivations and all this stuff were completely wrong.”
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Strong was last seen in his Oscar-nominated performance as Donald Trump mentor Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, alongside Sebastian Stan.
He is best known for his multiple Emmy-winning role as Kendall Roy, the eldest son of media mogul Logan Roy, in HBO’s Succession.
