By now, you shouldn’t need much convincing that Jeremy Strong is one of the most committed actors working today, inhabiting his characters with a rare craft and consideration that has – at times – put him in harm’s way, but has always left his crew and castmates in such awe at the distance he’s willing to travel in his character’s shoes.
“I take him as seriously as I take my own life,” the Succession star once said about his commitment to his portrayal as Kendall Roy in the hit HBO drama.
So when it was announced that he would be stepping into the role of Facebook and Meta CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg in the hugely anticipated sequel to The Social Network, the conversations weren’t so much centred around the loss of Jesse Eisenberg – who, it should be noted, gave an Oscar-nominated performance in the 2010 biopic – but quickly centred on where Strong would be willing to take such an infamous figure, during one of the most heavily scrutinised periods of the tech CEO’s career.
“It’s one of the great scripts I’ve ever read. It speaks to our time,” Strong told The Hollywood Reporter in 2025.
“It touches the third rail of everything happening in our world. It’s a great character – fascinating, complex – and I’m approaching it with great care and empathy and objectivity.”
The film centres on whistleblower Frances Haugen's release of internal Facebook documents and the subsequent scrutiny of the social media giant's practices, including allegations that the company placed growth and profit ahead of user welfare.
A first look at The Social Reckoning trailer reveals Strong's portrayal of Zuckerberg as older, richer, and considerably more dangerous than the version audiences met in David Fincher's 2010 film.
Gone is the hoodie-clad wonderkid trying to prove to everyone his genius from his university dorm room, replaced by a more confident version of the Facebook CEO, or “professional defendant,” as he says in the trailer, barely masking a wry smile, as his reach and influence have now well and truly exceeded anything we could have imagined from the first film.
And whilst early clips show Jeremy Strong’s uncanny impersonation of Zuckerberg, it’s almost impossible not to draw comparisons with his award-winning performance as Kendall Roy in Succession and Zuck.
As Kendall Roy, heir-apparent to a Murdoch-esque media empire in the critically acclaimed HBO series, Strong navigated the toxicity of too much wealth, power, and corporate control, where decisions (and their consequences) were measured in billions. He almost feels uniquely positioned to tackle a figure whose influence has shaped the way billions of people interact with the world.
“People around here understand that when I say ‘no,’ that’s the end of the debate,” Strong snaps in one of the trailer’s more telling sequences.
Of course, we know how this story unfolds (sorry, spoilers!) But whether Zuckerberg emerges as a villain, a visionary, or something less easily defined remains to be seen.
That is where the legal realities of a real-world case and Aaron Sorkin's creative licence will inevitably meet. The more intriguing prospect is how far Strong pushes the character: a man no longer striving to gain power, but determined to hold onto it.
