Social Reckoning: Sorkin's Facebook follow-up casts Mikey Madison as whistleblower in companion piece to The Social Network

Aaron Sorkin is returning to the world of Facebook with a new film, The Social Reckoning, described by Sony Pictures as a companion piece to his 2010 drama The Social Network rather than a direct sequel. The studio announced on Friday that Mikey Madison will portray Frances Haugen, the Facebook engineer whose thousands of internal documents were leaked in what became known as the Facebook Files, and Jeremy Allen White will play Jeff Horwitz, the Wall Street Journal reporter who helped bring the documents to light. Sorkin is writing and directing the project, which is set for a theatrical release in October 2026. Bill Burr has also joined the cast in an unspecified role.

Madison, who has been recognized with a best actress award earlier this year, anchors the film as Haugen, the whistleblower at the center of the narrative. The project centers on Haugen’s disclosures, which revealed internal research and policy considerations about how Facebook managed user safety and the company’s emphasis on profits. Horwitz, portrayed by White, is described as the journalist who helped surface the material that sparked the public conversation about the social network’s responsibilities. Sony Pictures described The Social Reckoning as a companion piece rather than a sequel to The Social Network, signaling a fresh, current look at the same arena of tech power, media reporting and gate keeping.

The Social Reckoning arrives as Sorkin returns to a topic that helped define the early era of social media and the public’s understanding of tech influence. The original The Social Network, which Sorkin wrote and David Fincher directed, was a critical and commercial hit, earning more than 226 million dollars worldwide in 2010 and earning eight Oscar nominations with three wins. The new film is not described as a retelling of that story but as an expansion of its themes, focusing on a whistleblower’s account and investigative reporting within today’s digital ecosystem.

Jeremy Allen White, known for his work on television and film, is cast opposite the Hollywood Sorkin pedigree; The project’s casting does not publicly confirm a performer for the role of Mark Zuckerberg, with the emphasis instead on Haugen and Horwitz. The involvement of a rising star like Madison suggests a deliberate choice to foreground the human consequences of the Facebook Files, while the production has signaled that a well-known comedian, Bill Burr, will join the cast in an unspecified capacity. The film’s timeline places production ahead of an expected fall 2026 release window, giving Sorkin more time to assemble the film’s voice and approach in a way that aligns with contemporary debates about platform safety and accountability.

Industry observers note that Sorkin’s return to a tech narrative mirrors a broader cultural interest in the ethics of online platforms, data use, and corporate governance. The Social Reckoning aims to blend newsroom-style storytelling with a character-driven portrayal of the people who exposed or investigated the platform’s practices. As with The Social Network, the project brings together a writer-director known for fast dialogue and a sharp sense of timing with a studio behind a project that taps into ongoing conversations about user safety, misinformation, and the responsibilities of large tech companies to investors, employees and the public.

With a release date set for October 2026, the project will enter a crowded fall season of prestige dramas and awards-season plays. If Sorkin’s track record holds, The Social Reckoning could become another consequential chapter in the public’s evolving understanding of Facebook’s impact on society and the broader tech ecosystem.