The Social Network 2 will be "wonderful," says Jesse Eisenberg, whose reasons for not returning are "completely unrelated" to how good it'll be

Jesse Eisenberg in Now You See Me 3
(Image credit: Lionsgate)

There's a sequel to The Social Network in the works, called The Social Reckoning, but Mark Zuckerberg won't be portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg. The actor declined to return for The Social Network 2, and he's now explained a little about why, and apparently it has nothing to do with the quality of the picture.

Eisenberg is doing the rounds for Now You See Me 3 at the minute, and during a stop on Today, he was asked about why he’s chosen not to be involved in The Social Reckoning. "Listen, for reasons that have nothing to do with how amazing that movie will be, really, truthfully," he explained. "When you play a character, you feel, at some point, you've grown into something else."

Jesse Eisenberg Talks ‘Now Your See Me’ 3, Louvre Heist, More - YouTube Jesse Eisenberg Talks ‘Now Your See Me’ 3, Louvre Heist, More - YouTube
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Succession mainstay Jeremy Strong is taking the baton from Eisenberg, stepping in to portray Zuckerberg this time around. He's joined by Mikey Madison, who's playing Frances Haugen, a former employee of Facebook who became a whistleblower on internal issues within the platform, and Jeremy Allen White, who’s playing Jeff Horwitz, a journalist who reports on her story.

The Social Reckoning picks up years after the first, with Facebook as a behemoth of online discourse that comes under scrutiny from the Securities and Exchanges Commission. Sorkin is expanding his duties this go around by contributing the screenplay and taking the director's chair from David Fincher, who directed The Social Network, but isn't coming back either, for unspecified reasons.

Now You See Me: Now You Don't is in theaters November 14. The Social Reckoning is due out October 9, 2026.

Keep an eye on our upcoming movies list so you don’t miss a trick, and we have a look at every upcoming superhero movie if you’d really rather just escape entirely.

Anthony McGlynn
Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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