Jesse Eisenberg shared why he decided not to return as Mark Zuckerberg in the upcoming The Social Network sequel.
The actor admitted that he no longer wants people to connect him with the Facebook founder.
Speaking at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where he received the festival’s President’s Award, Eisenberg looked back on playing Zuckerberg in the hit 2010 film.
According to Variety, he turned down the chance to return for the sequel, The Social Reckoning, with Jeremy Strong now taking over the role.
The new film, however, will tell the story of former Facebook engineer Frances Haugen, which is played by Mikey Madison.
It will also feature Jeremy Allen White as the Wall Street Journal reporter in the story.
Looking back at the first film, Eisenberg explained that Zuckerberg was not very well known at the time.
“In fact, at the time, the movie seemed like such a strange thing to me because no one really knew who he was,” he said.
The star added, “He’s become famous and now I don’t want to do the movie… I don’t want to be associated with him anymore because I don’t really like the comparison.”
Eisenberg also revealed that he stays away from social media because it makes him uncomfortable.
He said, “It’s not healthy,” before adding that Facebook, Twitter and other platforms “terrify” him.
He, moreover, also said that his opinion of Zuckerberg has changed over the years, adding that he no longer believes the tech boss truly cares about people.
Jesse is now promoting his new film The Debut, which arrives in US cinemas on December 3.
2026-07-05 17:58:00
