Tron: Ares
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Get ready to plug in. TRON: Ares, the electrifying new chapter in the iconic TRON saga, is coming soon. Directed by Joachim Rønning, this science fiction spectacle plunges us into a dangerous mission where a sophisticated program, Ares, steps from the digital world into ours, marking humanity's first true encounter with advanced AI beings.
Starring Jared Leto as the formidable Ares, and featuring a stellar ensemble cast including Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson, TRON: Ares also brings back a legendary presence: Jeff Bridges reprises his beloved role as Kevin Flynn.
The journey to TRON: Ares has been a long one, with development beginning shortly after TRON: Legacy. Initially envisioned as a direct sequel, the project evolved, shifting towards a bold reboot that introduces new characters and a fresh narrative while honoring the franchise's legacy. Production faced delays due to industry strikes, but filming ultimately commenced in Vancouver in early 2024, wrapping in May. And the iconic soundscape? It's being crafted by the legendary industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross not only composing the score but also serving as executive producers.
TRON: Ares is slated for a theatrical release in the United States on October 10, 2025, presented by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Prepare for a cinematic experience that explores the boundaries between man and machine, reality and the digital frontier.
Tron: Ares (stylized as TRON: Ares) is an upcoming American science fiction action film directed by Joachim Rønning from a screenplay by Jesse Wigutow, based on a story by David Digilio and Wigutow. It is the third installment in the Tron series and a sequel to Tron: Legacy (2010). The film features an ensemble cast including Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson, with Jeff Bridges reprising his role as Kevin Flynn from the previous films.
Development of a sequel to Tron: Legacy began in October 2010 by franchise creator Steven Lisberger. In March 2017, Walt Disney Pictures shifted plans toward a soft reboot with Leto playing a new character. Garth Davis was set as director in August 2020 when Wigutow was working on the script, but stepped down in January 2023. Rønning replaced him a month later. Production was expected to begin in August 2023 but was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Filming ultimately began in January 2024 in Vancouver and wrapped in May. By August, industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails was composing the score. The band's members, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, served as executive producers on the film, alongside Legacy director Joseph Kosinski.
Tron: Ares is scheduled to be released in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on October 10, 2025.
== Premise ==
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.
== Cast ==
Jared Leto as Ares, a super-intelligent program created by Julian Dillinger
Greta Lee as Eve Kim, the current chief executive officer of ENCOM who is in search of Flynn's Permanence Code
Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger, the leader of Dillinger Systems and grandson of Edward Dillinger
Jodie Turner-Smith as Athena, a program second-in-command to Ares
Hasan Minhaj as Ajay Singh, Kim's business partner and chief technology officer of ENCOM
Arturo Castro as Seth Flores, a colleague and friend of Kim's
Gillian Anderson as Elisabeth Dillinger, Julian’s mother and daughter of Edward Dillinger
Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn
Cameron Monaghan as Caius, a combat program and member of Ares’ elite special forces unit
Sarah Desjardins
== Production ==
=== Development ===
==== Initial Tron: Legacy sequel development ====
Development of a direct sequel to Tron: Legacy was announced in October 2010 by franchise creator Steven Lisberger, with Legacy screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz set to return. In April 2011, director Joseph Kosinski stated the script was still in development, and that it would follow the characters of Garrett Hedlund's Sam Flynn and Olivia Wilde's Quorra in the real world. On March 31, Kosinski said that the film's script was expected to be finished in two weeks and its working title is TR3N. In June, it was reported that screenwriter David DiGilio was hired to write the screenplay, as Kitsis and Horowitz had dropped out to develop their television series Once Upon a Time. In March 2012, Bruce Boxleitner stated he believed filming could potentially begin as early as 2014, after Kosinski was available following his commitments to the film Oblivion. In June, Kitsis and Horowitz stated that they were still involved with the project, though by December, Jesse Wigutow had been hired to rewrite the script. That same month, Boxleitner and Hedlund were confirmed to be returning for the sequel.
In March 2015, it was revealed that Disney had officially greenlit the third film with Hedlund, Kosinski and Wilde set to return, and production due to begin in October in Vancouver. In May, it was announced that Disney had scrapped the film, Hedlund stated the reason for the cancellation was a result of the box office failure of Tomorrowland. In July, Boxleitner announced the cancellation of the film had ended his interest in returning to the franchise, while in September, Hedlund stated he was told that the sequel was not "totally dead", and would be interested in returning should a new film be announced.
In August 2016, Brigham Taylor, then a development executive at Disney, revealed discussions were being had about Tron's future. In 2017, Kosinski stated that the sequel was in more of a "cryogenic freeze" as opposed to completely cancelled. He attributed Disney's then-recent acquisition of Lucasfilm and Marvel as reasons for Tron being put on the backburner. According to producer Justin Springer, the title for the abandoned sequel was reportedly Tron: Ascension.
==== Reboot ====
In March 2017, it was reported the franchise would be moving towards a soft reboot instead of a Legacy sequel, with Jared Leto attached to produce and portray a new character named Ares, that was retained from prior iterations of the Ascension script. Leto had previously lobbied Disney for a role in Legacy that never materialized. The seeds of the film was traced to a conversation between Springer and Lisberger during development of Legacy about how the latter came up with the original film, that being how there was an obsession with a first encounter with aliens in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he lived around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, leading him to wonder what if intelligent life didn't come from outer space but from inside a machine created by people yet not controlled by them. While the Ascension script was abandoned, the filmmakers made a conscious decision to develop some of the Ares story from that version, particularly its core concept due to their feelings it remained relevant. Since the release of Legacy, the concept of Ares had become more relevant with each year until its release instead of becoming more dated despite keeping older ideas. In August 2020, Garth Davis was hired to direct the film, with Wigutow still attached to write the screenplay. Patrice Vermette at the time had been hired to serve as the film's production designer.
In March 2022, Leto confirmed that the film was still happening. By January 2023, Davis had exited as director, with Joachim Rønning entering negotiations to take the directing job. Vermette would also depart as production designer. In June, Evan Peters, Greta Lee, and Jodie Turner-Smith joined the cast, and Jack Thorne was revealed to have written a draft of the script. Cameron Monaghan and Sarah Desjardins would be added the following month. In January 2024, Gillian Anderson joined the cast in an undisclosed role. Despite the teasers present in Legacy, Rønning confirmed in September 2025 that Jeff Bridges would be the only returning actor from previous films, reprising his role as Kevin Flynn, while affirming that neither Hedlund as Sam Flynn or Cillian Murphy as Ed Dillinger Jr. would return from Legacy, both due to creative choices and a lack of interest from the actors' part. Springer also felt that "throwing" cameo appearances in like a "parade of people" felt like fan service which would not serve the story, so they opted to only bring back characters in a way that reminded the audience their love for the franchise, but by surprising them in a way that works. Despite the film not being set to address the cliffhanger ending of Legacy or the fates of Sam and Quorra, Springer affirmed that it doesn't contradict that ending and that Legacy remains canon.
The studio planned to add an AI-generated character that would have been a sidekick to Flynn, a soldier named Bit entering the real world, but the plan was abandoned prior to filming to avoid potential controversy in the midst of societal and governmental issues surrounding the regulation of AI in filmmaking.
=== Filming ===
Principal photography was scheduled to begin in Vancouver on August 14, 2023, but was postponed indefinitely due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Following the conclusion of the strikes in early November 2023, filming was reportedly set to begin in early 2024. In November 2023, it was announced that production on the project would officially begin following the holiday season of the same year. In January 2024, Rønning revealed production had begun, under the working title Velcro. Jeff Cronenweth serves as cinematographer. A first look image was released by Disney in February, with Hasan Minhaj and Arturo Castro added to the cast. Production occurred on the Cambie Bridge overnight on March 15. In April, Jeff Bridges, who portrayed Kevin Flynn and Clu in the previous Tron films, confirmed his involvement in the film. Filming wrapped on May 1. Jesse Wigutow received sole credit for the film's screenplay, along with a story credit with David Digilio, while off-screen additional literary material credits were attributed to Jez Butterworth, Brian Duffield, Justin Haythe, Nicole Holofcener, Tom McCarthy, Megan McDonnell, Jack Thorne, and Billy Ray, as well as Legacy screenwriters Horowitz and Kitsis.
=== Post-production ===
Tyler Nelson serves as the editor. The film's visual effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Distillery VFX, Image Engine, Lola VFX, GMUNK, OPSIS and Imaginary Forces, with David Seager serving as the film's visual effects supervisor.
== Soundtrack ==
In 2020, shortly after completing work on the film Soul, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were approached by Tom MacDougall, president of Walt Disney Music, to work on Tron: Ares. In August 2024, it was announced Nine Inch Nails would score the film. At Disney's behest, the choice to compose the score under the name of their band marked the first time Reznor and Ross had done so since their work on the 1996 videogame Quake. Between Tron: Ares and Quake, the duo composed together nineteen film, television, and game soundtracks, which were credited with their own names.
Reznor explained that taking the Nine Inch Nails name influenced their approach to scoring Tron: Ares, putting them in a "grittier" mindset and allowing them to "play by different rules", something Disney was pleased with. For Rønning, it was important to "contrast The Grid and the real world," and that Nine Inch Nails, an industrial rock band, "lend itself perfectly into a new, more industrial Tron." In August 2024, premiering at the D23 event in Anaheim, the special footage for Tron: Ares included a remix of the Nine Inch Nails song "Something I Can Never Have".
On July 17, 2025, a new single "As Alive as You Need Me to Be" was released, and the soundtrack album was released on September 19, 2025 by Interscope Records, Walt Disney Records, and The Null Corporation.
== Marketing ==
Bridges, Leto and the rest of the cast appeared at D23 2024 in Anaheim, where a first look was shown. The same footage was showcased in D23 Brazil 2024. Bridges and Leto also appeared at CinemaCon 2025 to debut new footage for the film, which was subsequently release online as a teaser trailer on April 5 of the same year, along with a teaser poster.
In June 2025, TheWrap reported that Disney would be presenting the film at San Diego Comic-Con's Hall H in July that same year. The official trailer was released on July 17, 2025, accompanied by the new Nine Inch Nails song "As Alive as You Need Me to Be".
In August 2025, it was announced that Marvel Comics would publish Tron: Ares themed variant covers across their October titles, depicting their superhero characters through the lens of the Tron universe. Later that same month, during the 2025 Destination D23 showcase, it was announced that a new overlay inspired by Tron: Ares (featuring red lighting and music by Nine Inch Nails) would be coming to Tron Lightcycle Power Run attraction for a limited time beginning on September 15, 2025 at the Walt Disney World Resort and September 16, 2025 at the Shanghai Disney Resort.
== Release ==
Tron: Ares is scheduled to be released theatrically on October 10, 2025, including in RealD 3D, 4DX, ScreenX, Dolby Cinema, and IMAX. Tron: Ares marks the first film in the Tron series to be given a PG-13 rating by the Motion Picture Association, after its predecessors were previously rated PG.
== Box office projections ==
In the United States, Tron: Ares will be released alongside Roofman and Kiss of the Spider Woman, and is projected to gross $44 million in its opening weekend (the same amount that its predecessor, Tron: Legacy, made in its domestic opening weekend).
== References ==
== External links ==
Official website
Tron: Ares at IMDb
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