Aaron Sorkin Says It ‘Never Occurred’ to Him That Jesse Eisenberg Wouldn’t Play Mark Zuckerberg in ‘The Social Reckoning,’ Claims the Paycheck Was a ‘Disincentive’

Oct 3, 2026 10:35am PT Aaron Sorkin Says It ‘Never Occurred’ to Him That Jesse Eisenberg Wouldn’t Play Mark Zuckerberg in ‘The Social Reckoning,’ Claims the Paycheck Was a ‘Disincentive’

By Payton Turkeltaub

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Payton Turkeltaub

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Before Jesse Eisenberg declined to step back into the world of Facebook as Mark Zuckerberg for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning,” the director admitted “it never occurred” to him that the actor wouldn’t be on board with his 2026 follow-up to 2010’s “The Social Network,” in which Eisenberg portrayed the young tech billionaire.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Sorkin recounted that he was “just a couple of pages from being done” with the script for the new film when he ran into Eisenberg at a party, “and said, ‘I’m gonna be sending you something in a couple of weeks.’” The actor “smiled and nodded, and I sent it to him,” said Sorkin. “It never occurred to me that he wouldn’t wanna do it.”

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