From Canceled Sequel to Standalone Hit: TRON: Ares Journey

It’s San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, and Disney is generating buzz before its big event by releasing a new trailer for TRON: Ares, a new installment in the franchise that’s one of the most famous and well-known science fiction franchises of all time. Directed by Joachim Rønning, the film is also a reboot of TRON: Legacy, which Rønning now seems to be carrying on with this project.

TRON: Ares moves the franchise out of cyberspace into the real world.

The last film fans have seen is TRON: Legacy. The film was released back in 2010, and it was the follow-up to the original TRON movie. It was centered around Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of the late Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) — or as we learned at the end of the original TRON, at least. Sam is an expert programmer just like his father, and he was able to stop Clu, one of the programs in the digital grid, from fusing the Grid with the real world. In the process, Sam escaped with the help of Quorra (Olivia Wilde), a rare program known as an isomorphic algorithm or ISO. She was being hunted by Clu for deletion, so Sam saved her and the two managed to escape the Grid with her help.

Disney initially set up a third TRON film that would be a continuation of Legacy. The film was officially announced by Disney back in October 2010, as they gave the film a green light. In this film, they were set to continue following the adventures of Sam and Quorra, as Sam took over the reins of his father’s company, ENCOM. But they lost traction, as the film was officially canceled by the studio in 2015. It was reported that a key reason for the cancellation of the film had to do with Disney’s other sci-fi film, Tomorrowland. As the film underperformed at the box office, it negatively affected TRON 3 as well.

Fans did not have to wait long, as in 2020, Disney brought the project back. The film was announced to be a reboot, which would not be a direct continuation of Legacy. However, it was noted that parts of the script and even the characters for the film would remain from the scripts that were developed earlier. One of these characters is Ares, a program that was established to be a major part of the AI world in the film. After facing pandemic shutdowns and the industry-wide Hollywood strikes that also pushed production back, the film is now complete and in post-production.

From the official synopsis from Disney, they stated that, “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.” The star of the film is Jared Leto, who stars as the titular Ares. Evan Peters plays the role of Julian Dillinger, with Greta Lee playing the role of Eve Kim. Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson all join the cast for the film. Jeff Bridges also returns to the franchise to play the role of Kevin Flynn. Meanwhile, Nine Inch Nails are back to compose the film’s score.

Trailer Breakdown: The “Ultimate Soldier” Invades Reality

In the first trailer that was released in April, fans were treated to a visual fest of neon lines, TRON lightcycles, and those memorable digital environments. However, the trailer offered very little in terms of a look at the plot. The new trailer, which dropped this week, keeps many of those visuals that everyone loved while giving fans a closer look at the story.

It starts off in a way that might feel familiar to anyone who has ever seen a tech industry product release keynote. We see Julian Dillinger on stage as he says to the audience, “So much talk of AI and big tech today. Virtual worlds, what are they going to look like? When will we get there? Well, folks. We’re not going there. They are coming here.”

At this, he reveals that he is unveiling his “ultimate soldier.” “He’s biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. And if he is struck down on the battlefield…” at this point, he smacks Ares down from the stage and continues “…I will simply make you another.” It is during this moment that we understand Dillinger to be a corporate power-hungry monster that simply sees AIs as just tools and property.

As the trailer continues, we learn that while Dillinger thinks he is in control and that Ares is something he can just switch out, Ares is on a mission to find his purpose. He even tells Dillinger at one point, “No, it’s not up to you.” So, while Dillinger wants Ares to be the ultimate soldier, Ares is on a personal mission to find something he cannot put a finger on. It’s then that we also see Kevin Flynn show up in the virtual world as the voice-over asks, “A malfunctioning program who wants to live, why is that?”

The nostalgia factor is strong here as TRON fans will want to see Bridges reprise his role as Flynn, and a sci-fi take on Leto playing an AI that is entering the world that humans live in. There are some big action spectacles that are promised, but we are also teased with some pretty cool thematic material about AIs gaining their own free will and the horror of those that create them coming for what they see as their property.