June 10, 2026
This. Is. Brutal. The new trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning just dropped, and in two minutes it is clear: No amount of UFC training could prepare Mark Zuckerberg for the devastating Power Slap he is about to receive in theaters. The film is the sequel to Sorkin’s Oscar-winning 2010 film The Social Network. But instead of quirky Jesse Eisenberg playing the role of Zuckerberg, the older version of the Facebook (now Meta) founder is played by everyone’s favorite onscreen punching bag, Jeremy Strong (Succession).
The sequel takes us deep into Zuckerberg’s middle-aged villain arc, away from merely being accused of stealing the idea for Facebook in college, and now being called to account for allegedly knowingly impacting the mental health of social media users thanks to real-life whistleblower Frances Haugen. The “Facebook Files,” published by The Wall Street Journal in 2021 using information from Haugen, took all the jabs previously lobbed at Zuckerberg’s ethically murky public profile and finally delivered concrete proof that all was not well at Facebook.
For those who follow tech events closely, the episode was a brief yet revealing flash of light on Zuckerberg’s internal methodology. The revelations were damaging, but not fully etched into the minds of the general public, who continued to use Zuckerberg products, like Instagram, as usual. But now, backed by what appears to be a brilliantly on-the-mark performance by Strong as Zuckerberg, billions of mainstream Meta users, Instagram users, Facebook users, and WhatsApp users are about to get another, more potent, wake-up call as to who they’re dealing with.
This trailer is just a sample of the goods, but it’s really all we need. Strong’s eerily pitch-perfect rendition of Zuckerberg’s voice alone is so stingingly accurate that his perma-tension posture and automaton-like emotive signaling are really just the icing on the theatrical cake.
Now, with Zuckerberg currently mired in a new fight for his business life, trying to compete in the AI space while simultaneously laying off giant swathes of employees, The Social Reckoning will pose a new question to the public: Is this the person you’re going to trust with the future of AI and humanity?
Sony Pictures’ The Social Reckoning will hit theaters on October 9.
Cover image: a scene from the film ‘The Social Reckoning’ via Sony Pictures
