The long-delayed third film in Disney’s TRON franchise began production in Vancouver in January 2024. The original 1982 TRON was a groundbreaking sci-fi film, using then state-of-the-art computer graphics to realize the world of “the Grid.” This was a digital world, living entirely inside a computer system. Video game developer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) gets sucked into the Grid and has a grand adventure. TRON became a cult classic, and eventually spawned a follow-up film, TRON: Legacy, in 2010. A third TRON movie, TRON: Ares, is now in the works.
TRON: Ares will continue the musical legacy of the TRON franchise. This time, Nine Inch Nails will score the movie and create the TRON: Ares soundtrack. We look forward to an earful of that. This change for the score marks the film’s grittier nature, according to director Joachim Rønning. In his interview with Empire, Rønning said that TRON: Ares is a new version of this world that’s more industrial.
“With Nine Inch Nails making the music, this instalment will be a little grittier, a little bit more industrial,” the filmmaker said. “It’s been important for me to contrast The Grid and the real world. In that sense, Nine Inch Nails lends itself perfectly into this new Tron world that we are creating.”
Here’s everything else we know about TRON: Ares.
Title
The name of the third installment of the TRON franchise is TRON: Ares.
TRON: Ares’ Plot
We know next to nothing about the plot for the TRON: Ares. The second film, TRON: Legacy, ended with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) escaping the digital world of the Grid, with escaped Grid refugee Quorra (Olivia Wilde) in tow. The implications that they were going to change the “real” world were there. Will the third TRON film follow up on that plot point? Rumors are that this installment will be a reboot of sorts. Jared Leto’s character of Ares was not in previous films. The film’s director said the third TRON is “a movie subsequently about AI and what it means, and takes, to be human.”
We do have a brief synopsis for TRON: Ares:
TRON: Ares follows a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.
Behind-the-Scenes
Sitting in the director’s chair for the third TRON film is Joachim Rønning. Rønning became known thanks to his 2012 film Kon-Tiki, after which Disney hired him to direct Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and the upcoming Disney+ film Young Woman and the Sea. This script is from screenwriter Jesse Wigutow. Nine Inch Nails will score the film, and we hope they take notes from Daft Punk’s iconic score from TRON: Legacy.
Rønning said in a release, “I’m excited to be part of the TRON franchise and bring this new film to fans around the world. TRON: Ares builds upon the legacy of cutting-edge design, technology and storytelling. Now more than ever, it feels like the right time to return to the Grid.”
Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver, Justin Springer, Jared Leto, Emma Ludbrook and Steven Lisberger are the producers, with Russell Allen serving as executive producer.
TRON: Ares’ Cast
Jared Leto is in the lead for TRON: Ares as the (possibly) titular character of Ares, who joined the cast back in 2020. Joining him are Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson.
Jeff Bridges recently revealed that he will also appear in TRON: Ares. “I’m heading off this Saturday to play a part in the third installment of the ‘Tron’ story; I’m excited about that,” he told the Film Comment podcast. “It’s wild. Jared Leto is the star of this third one, and I’m really anxious to work with him, and I’ve admired his work.” We know that his OG character, Kevin Flynn, sacrificed himself in Tron: Legacy but in a way that left his ending open for interpretation. We will see what happens.
TRON: Ares Release Date
TRON: Ares will release on October 10, 2025.
Originally published on January 23, 2024.
