'The Social Network' Sequel: Aaron Sorkin Still Wants To Write It, On One Condition

The Social Network is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and a lot has changed in the world – and the world of Facebook – since the film's release. Since then, the social media giant has only gotten worse, becoming a kind of petri dish for insane conspiracy theories and election meddling that has significantly weakened American democracy. And Mark Zuckerberg, portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg as kind of a harmless jerk in the movie, has only grown more reviled for his actions, and inactions. This has lead many to suggest a Social Network sequel is in order, and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has said in the past that he's up for it. Now, as Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 gears up for release, he's repeating his desire to return to the world of Facebook – on one condition: director David Fincher has to return as well.

In 2019, The Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin revealed that the film's producer, Scott Rudin, had emailed him more than once about a potential sequel to David Fincher's excellent 2010 film. "I've gotten more than one email from him with an article attached saying, 'Isn't it time for a sequel?'" Sorkin said, adding: "First of all, I know a lot more about Facebook in 2005 than I do in 2018, but I know enough to know that there should be a sequel."

Now, a year later, Sorkin is repeating his desire to pen a sequel. He even has some source material to adapt to make it happen: Zucked, a 2019 book written by early Facebook investor Roger McNamee. Per THR, Sorkin has even met with McNamee about adapting the book. Here's a partial synopsis of McNamee's Zucked:

If you had told Roger McNamee even three years ago that he would soon be devoting himself to stopping Facebook from destroying our democracy, he would have howled with laughter. He had mentored many tech leaders in his illustrious career as an investor, but few things had made him prouder, or been better for his fund's bottom line, than his early service to Mark Zuckerberg. Still a large shareholder in Facebook, he had every good reason to stay on the bright side. Until he simply couldn't.

ZUCKED is McNamee's intimate reckoning with the catastrophic failure of the head of one of the world's most powerful companies to face up to the damage he is doing. It's a story that begins with a series of rude awakenings. First there is the author's dawning realization that the platform is being manipulated by some very bad actors. Then there is the even more unsettling realization that Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg are unable or unwilling to share his concerns, polite as they may be to his face.

"I do want to see [a sequel]. And Scott [Rudin] wants to see it," said Sorkin on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "People have been talking to me about it. What we've discovered is the dark side of Facebook...And Sandberg and Zuckerberg seem uninterested in doing anything about it. This all ends up with McNamee in a Senate basement secure conference room briefing Senate Intelligence subcommittee members on how Facebook is bringing down democracy. 'We have a huge problem here and something needs to be done about it.'"

However, Sorkin has one caveat when it comes to making the sequel happen: David Fincher has to direct. "I will only write it if David directs it," the screenwriter said. And I think that's a wise choice. Sorkin is a great screenwriter, especially when it comes to dialogue. But his writing really fires on all cylinders when he's working with a great director like Fincher.

The question now is: would Fincher actually direct a sequel? The filmmaker clearly isn't averse to the idea of sequels – his feature debut was Alien 3, and for a long time, he was attached to direct World War Z 2. However, he's yet to direct a sequel to one of his own films. That said, Sorkin says he and Fincher remain in touch, so you never know – The Social Network 2 might happen sooner or later.