Aaron Sorkin is back with another high-profile film about how Facebook wormed its way into our lives. Sony released a new trailer for The Social Reckoning, a biographical drama about the inner workings of one of the most powerful tech companies in the world. It will be in theaters on Oct. 9.
Much like 2010’s The Social Network, which Sorkin also wrote, The Social Reckoning will follow Mark Zuckerberg (played in the trailer with alarming verisimilitude by Jeremy Strong) and his company’s controversies. The story also centers on Jeremy Allen White as Jeff Horwitz, a real-life Washington Post reporter who broke a series of investigative pieces revealing Facebook Inc. knew that its platform was causing societal harm, but chose profit over addressing these issues.
Whistleblower Frances Haugen, played here by Anora’s Mikey Madison, leaked the information that would be compiled in The Facebook Files. These reports showed that the company knew Instagram, which Facebook acquired in 2012, was harming teenage users and that Facebook was contributing toward violence in developing countries, but refused to make changes.
The stacked cast is rounded out by Bill Burr, Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners), Billy Magnussen (Into the Woods, Bridge of Spies), Betty Gilpin (Glow), Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire), and more. While the film is billed as a companion piece to The Social Network, that movie’s director, David Fincher, will not be involved; Sorkin will take over the role. That said, the iconic chime of the 2010 film’s main theme by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is heard in the final moments of the trailer — while neither will return, the prolific Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Frankenstein) will compose in their stead.
Given all that’s happened over at Facebook since The Social Network — one of the best films of the 2010s — took aim at the man behind the company, this spiritual sequel feels quite timely. Many have argued that the 2016 U.S. presidential election was swayed by misinformation on the platform, and since then, the site has become even more of a hotbed for fringe conspiracy theories and troll campaigns manufactured by foreign governments.
In general, social media has gone from a seemingly innocuous way to connect with others online to a vehicle for endless division, culture war, and algorithmic manipulation. Whether Sorkin can once again tap into this zeitgeist remains to be seen, but we’ll find out later this year.
