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At its D23 fan event in Anaheim, California on Friday night, Walt Disney Studios unveiled a first, exclusive look at footage from Tron: Ares, the third entry in what is now officially the Tron film franchise—which wasn’t a foregone conclusion after Tron: Legacy underperformed back in 2010.
Following up on the ending of that film, in which the AI character Quorra (Olivia Wilde) escaped from the Grid into the real world with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), Tron: Ares is leaning fully in that direction with the Grid itself invading our world through the machinations of the malevolent program known as Ares (Jared Leto).
Leto and fellow cast members Greta Lee and Evan Peters came onto the D23 stage before the footage was shown, joined somewhat surprisingly by Jeff Bridges, the original Kevin Flynn, who arrived first to warm up the crowd. Even more surprisingly, Bridges also shows up at the end of the footage. Since both Flynn and his digital alter ego, Clu, apparently perished at the end of Tron: Legacy, this is something of a surprise—although we suppose that anything can be rebooted in the online world.
‘We’re not going there, they are coming here’
Early in the Tron: Ares footage, the villainous Julian Dillinger (Peters, no doubt playing a descendant of original Tron corporate baddie Ed Dillinger) says that while we’ve been looking for life in the stars, we didn’t realize that it was here all along in the Grid. Somehow that digital universe has apparently been restarted after Sam Flynn shut it down at the end of Tron: Legacy. And now, Peters intones, “We’re not going there, they’re coming here.”
Indeed they are. After a glimpse of a motorcycle riding through a snowy landscape and arriving at a mysterious orange tree, we are introduced to Ares, in a black suit with glowing red piping, as he emerges into our world to look for “something important… permanence.” Next up are shots of destroyed city blocks, and vivid images of Recognizers and Lightcycles intruding into the physical world and urban areas. In one shot, a Lightcycle being pursued by police down a city street sends a beam of light out behind it that neatly slices the police vehicle in half.
We also meet Greta Lee’s Eve Kim, described as a “brilliant programmer” whose work has made it possible for Ares to enter our world. She asks Ares “what are you?” during what appears to be a fateful confrontation. There’s also a very quick shot of X-Files legend Gillian Anderson, whose role has yet to be revealed. The trailer ends with Bridges, dressed in mystical robes, saying “Welcome, program,” to Leto’s Ares.
What else do we know about Tron: Ares?
Also unveiled at the presentation was the news that Tron: Ares will be scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, aka Nine Inch Nails, a logical choice and follow-up to Daft Punk’s excellent work on Tron: Legacy. What we don’t know yet is whether Garrett Hedlund’s Sam Flynn and Olivia Wilde’s Quorra will return. Nothing has been announced yet, and although their characters were rumored to be part of the film’s early development years ago, there’s no indication yet that they’ll be coming back—although Disney could be holding that back. After all, much of the concept of Tron: Ares was teased as a quasi-religious like development after Quorra entered the real world. So what happened to Flynn’s “miracle?”
The return of Bridges, who is in many ways the face of the franchise, signals that Tron: Ares will not shy away from reactivating legacy (no pun intended) characters, even as it introduces a whole new cast to the proceedings.
Tron: Ares is directed by Joachim Rønning (replacing Garth Davis), who has become one of Disney’s house directors with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and the recent Young Woman and the Sea under his belt for the Mouse House. Tron: Ares is set to come out Oct. 10, 2025.
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