View gallery
The Social Network debuted in theaters back on October 1, 2010, and it made its young cast members A-listers. The Facebook-themed drama also racked up awards and nominations, making it one of that year’s most high-profile films. And in the ensuing 15 years, speculation about a sequel has been a near-constant topic on the landscape of entertainment gossip. Given that its subject, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, continues to be an ongoing topic of conversation, a sequel would seem to be inevitable.
Read on for more about the possibility of The Social Network 2 happening.
What is ‘The Social Network About?
“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies,” the famous tagline goes. Adapted from Ben Mezrich‘s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, The Social Network centers around Zuckerberg in 2003, who was then a sophomore at Harvard. The visionary programming whiz rises in fame and notoriety as he creates Facebook, becomes a billionaire, and faces the ensuing lawsuits.
Who Starred in ‘The Social Network’?
Jesse Eisenberg starred as Zuckerberg, with Andrew Garfield as his business partner Eduardo Saverin, Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, Armie Hammer as Cameron Winklevoss, and Rooney Mara as Erica Albright, among others. It was adapted for the screen by The West Wing visionary Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, who also directed Panic Room and Gone Girl.
The film received eight Academy Award nominations and took home trophies for best adapted screenplay, editing, and score. At the Golden Globes, it received wins for best picture, best director, best screenplay, and best original score. Eisenberg was nominated for best actor at both the 2011 Golden Globes and Academy Awards, though he failed to secure a victory, losing both to Colin Firth for a superb peformance in The King’s Speech.
Is a Sequel to ‘The Social Network’ Happening?
It’s unclear whether there will be a sequel to the 2010 film, though in 2023, Fincher made a promising (albeit cryptic) statement about the possibility. “Aaron and I have talked about it, but, um … that’s a can of worms,” he told The Guardian in an October of 2023 interview.
And according to an April 2024 report, Sorkin is working on something of a quasi-sequel to the film. “Look, yeah, I’ll be writing about this,” he said during an episode of The Town podcast, discussing the January 6 insurrection of 2021, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I blame Facebook for January 6.” When asked why he blames Facebook, he responded, “You’re going to need to buy a movie ticket.”
According to the outlet, sources close to the screenwriter confirmed he’s working on a “Social Network-adjacent screenplay.” They also stated it was still in “early days” at the time and stressed that there was no studio partner for the project.
