Ten years after its release, The Social Network still remains one of the defining movies of the decade. It captured a very specific moment in our recent history – a time where society was right on the precipice of social media platforms becoming ubiquitous in our lives. The film brilliantly examined social media through a character study of the man who created one of the most popular and infamous platforms, Facebook, and predicted the effects that digital socialization would have on our psyches.
Today, Facebook is still consistently in the news, with heightened scrutiny and criticism over Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's penchant for invasion of privacy and the spread of misinformation. Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter of The Social Network, has been flirting with the idea of penning a sequel for awhile. Now, while on the press tour for his new film The Trial of the Chicago 7, Sorkin has expressed his keen interest in actually developing the film, making the existence of a sequel more of a possibility.
Details are sparse on what the sequel would entail, other than Sorkin's desire to base the new script off of the book Zucked! by early Facebook investor Roger McNamee and that it would explore the "dark side of Facebook." During the interview on Happy.Sad.Confused podcast, he also has stated that the sequel would be contingent on the involvement of original director David Fincher.
The sequel is not only something that moviegoers want from a purely entertainment perspective, but it would also be interesting to re-examine the character of Mark Zuckerberg from the first film in light of new public perception. In The Social Network, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed as a lonely but brilliant man with an obsession with social rank (especially within Harvard's cutthroat network of "final clubs"). Zuckerberg creates a massive social networking platform to gain clout, but ultimately ends up alienating the friends he initially had while being smothered in lawsuits. By the end of the film, the irony in the film's title becomes clear: Zuckerberg is left rich and powerful, yet friendless, aimlessly refreshing his browser to see if a wronged ex-girlfriend will accept his friend request. It's a perfect summation of the dangerous social implications of social media – the more connected we become online, the more alone we feel in reality.
The Social Network's conclusion was that Mark was "not an asshole," but was "trying so hard to be [one]," framing him as a somewhat sympathetic hero. However, public opinion on Zuckerberg has shifted dramatically over the years. Nowadays, he is known for his platform's destructive influence on our democracy as well as his apparent unwillingness to do anything about it. Zuckerberg and Facebook have grown beyond simply being representative of a social media platform. Now, Facebook has become an all-powerful entity that has affected everything from news, to politics, and even cyber-warfare. In other words, despite a not-so-flattering portrayal, Sorkin let Zuckerberg off fairly easy.
A sequel which explores how the Mark Zuckerberg we saw in 2010 transformed into the Mark Zuckerberg of today would be fascinating and necessary to explore. Hopefully, in this prospective sequel, Sorkin would hold Zuckerberg accountable for what his creation has wrought on our society, portraying how Facebook morphed from a tool Zuckerberg made to climb in social status to a Frankenstein-type creation gone wrong. A film surrounding Zuckerberg's inability or indifference in saving the world from his monstrous creation would certainly be an interesting one.
Though sequel focusing less on Facebook's social implications and more on its effects on our democracy would not be an easy task to pull off, with Sorkin's affinity for courtroom drama and Zuckerberg's now notorious Congressional testimonies, the democracy angle could be tackled extremely well. From a purely entertainment perspective, it would also be thrilling to see Jesse Eisenberg tackle an older version of Zuckerberg. After all, Zuckerberg is now a family man, a role which no one would've believed that Social Network's Mark would ever achieve. Showing how Mark deals with his home life and family while also wrestling with the business and moral implications of Facebook's growing controversies would create dynamic character interactions that Sorkin is famous for. It would also be interesting to check in on the characters from The Social Network who are no longer part of Zuckerberg's life, including Eduardo Saverin, the Winklevoss twins and Sean Parker.
With Sorkin's recent public expression of creating a second film and considering the current cultural climate, a sequel to The Social Network is now closer to happening than ever.