Jesse Eisenberg explains absence from The Social Reckoning

Jesse Eisenberg felt he had outgrown playing Mark Zuckerberg.

The 42-year-old actor was nominated for an Oscar when he played the Facebook CEO in 2010's The Social Network but he won't be reprising the role for upcoming sequel The Social Reckoning, and he's insisted his decision not to return had nothing to do with the movie itself.

He said on Today: “Listen, for reasons that have nothing to do with how amazing that movie will be, really, truthfully.

“But when you play a character, you feel, at some point, you’ve grown into something else.”

Asked if he feels he has outgrown the character, he added: "Yeah, something."

Jesse stressed he thinks The Social Reckoning - which will be written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, who penned The Social Network - will be a "wonderful movie".

He said: "It’s a really wonderful movie. I’m friends with Aaron Sorkin who wrote and is directing this movie, and all of the reasons that I am not in it are completely unrelated to how brilliant it will be.”

In the absence of Jesse, Jeremy Strong will play Zuckerberg and the Succession actor recently hailed the script as one of the best he'd ever written.

He told the Hollywood Reporter: “It’s one of the great scripts I’ve ever read. It speaks to our time, 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.”

Jeremy admitted he doesn't plan to speak with Jesse about the role.

He said: “No, I think that has nothing to do with what I’m going to do.”

The new movie is set 17 years after The Social Network and will focus on Facebook engineer Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), who teams up with Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) to bring attention to the platform's biggest secrets.

The screenplay delves into the story behind the Wall Street Journal's Facebook Files, which were a series of October 2021 articles by Horowitz that sought to expose Facebook's inner workings, and the harms caused by them.

The movie will also delve into the impact the site has on teenagers and preteens, as well as violence, and its wider effect on countries around the world.

Back in 2021, Sorkin opened up on his plans for a sequel, insisting "what has been going on with Facebook these last few years is a story very much worth telling”.

He told The Town podcast last year: “Facebook has been, among other things, tuning its algorithm to promote the most divisive material possible.

"Because that is what will increase engagement. That is what will get you to — what they call inside the hallways of Facebook — ‘the infinite scroll’…

"There’s supposed to be a constant tension at Facebook between growth and integrity. There isn’t. It’s just growth.”