- calendar_today August 29, 2025
Jeff Bridges and Jared Leto Share the Screen in TRON: Ares
Disney may have just days left before its official San Diego Comic-Con presentation, but that hasn 27t stopped the Mouse House from releasing a new trailer for TRON: Ares 26mdash; the first film in the legendary sci-fi franchise 27s new chapter. Directed by Joachim R f8nning, TRON: Ares 27 upcoming trailer was released earlier this week and continues the franchise 27s 2020 reboot, shifting its sights outside the Grid and instead turning its attention to Earth.
TRON: Ares 27 trailer was officially released on Wednesday
The most recent film in the franchise, TRON: Legacy, landed in theaters in 2010, and introduced us to the Grid 27s most recent visitor, Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of TRON 27s first hero, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). Legacy climaxed with Flynn foiling a diabolical plan by Clu (Ford Frey), the Grid 27s malicious ruling Program, to merge the digital world with the real. Flynn and a special Program he 27d picked up along the way, an isomorphic algorithm (ISO) named Quorra (Olivia Wilde), who Clu had sought to delete, escaped the Grid to avoid that calamity.
Fans had expected to visit the Grid once more with the follow-up to TRON: Legacy, but the development process for that film repeatedly slowed, first getting the green light in October 2010. Disney 27s intended to pick up almost immediately after Legacy left off, following Sam and Quorra 27s adventures as he took over his father 27s company, ENCOM. The sequel was officially canceled by the studio in 2015, per Variety, reportedly in the wake of similarly genre-mired Tomorrowland 27s dismal performance at the box office.
It wouldn 27t be TRON 27s last hurrah. In 2020, a rebooted idea for the property from Disney once again returned to the studio 27s orbit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, earlier drafts of the movie would still inform much of the creative direction onscreen, including the character of Ares, the name of the movie that R f8nning would eventually direct. Despite further delays due to the pandemic and the film industry 27s most recent set of union strikes, TRON: Ares is finally complete and will open in theaters in the fall of 2025.
TRON: Ares Synopsis: 26ldquo;Ultimate Soldier 26rdquo; Defies His Human Creators
TRON: Ares 27 synopsis from Disney: 26ldquo;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 27s first encounter with A.I. beings. 26rdquo; Playing the title role is Jared Leto, whose journey as Ares into the real world is being documented by his creator, Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), and corporate partner Eve Kim (Greta Lee). The rest of the cast features Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson. Jeff Bridges also returns to reprise his role as Kevin Flynn, while the film 27s score was handled by Nine Inch Nails.
Trailer 2 for TRON: Ares Offers More Information on Dillinger 27s Plan
TRON: Ares 27 first trailer dropped last month during a CinemaCon panel presentation. The official release for that film was a full spectacle. It showed off much of the expected TRON trimmings (think: neon lines, lightcycles, and pristine digital vistas), but revealed little about the actual story. This week 27s trailer, while still retaining the imagery familiar to fans, provides more insight into TRON: Ares 27 intentions.
The short opens with a common keynote set piece these days 26mdash; inside a presentation space, a tech executive is on stage, in front of a crowd, and he 27s in the process of spouting some significant stage banter. 26ldquo;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 27re not going there. They are coming here, 26rdquo; says Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) as he presents to his audience, on stage and off.
Dillinger then proceeds to reveal his ultimate soldier, an A.I. Program named Ares (Jared Leto), with the confidence of someone who considers himself technologically immortal. 26ldquo;He 27s biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. And if he is struck down on the battlefield 26hellip; 26rdquo; As Dillinger speaks those last words, he demonstratively puts a hand down on the stage and knocks the A.I. Program down. 26ldquo; 26hellip;I will simply make you another. 26rdquo; The trailer very purposefully sets the table for Dillinger as a techno-corporate villain, confident that he has the future of A.I. all planned out.
That 27s not necessarily how Ares 27 journey will go, however. In the context of this film, Dillinger may be proud of his creation, but Ares might not necessarily feel the same way. This trailer also shows the Program having a clear sense of purpose on its own and looking for something personal, even if it doesn’t know what it 27s looking for. As Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) himself intones in the trailer in the digital world, 26ldquo;A malfunctioning program who wants to live, why is that? 26rdquo;
TRON: Ares 27 trailer is an interesting one, as it plays as a callback for fans to the original film with Jeff Bridges 27 return to the franchise as Flynn, but with Leto 27s presence as Ares crossing over to the real world, the potential for philosophical conversations in a franchise already strong at the man-machine interface is titillating. Visually, R f8nning 27s craftsmanship shows through here in the meshing of not only classic TRON aesthetics, but techscapes into the real world. Paired with Nine Inch Nails 27 textured score, this latest trailer bodes well for TRON: Ares.
TRON: Ares Fans: Mark Your Calendar
After more than a decade of a follow-up to TRON: Legacy, the wait is finally over for Disney 27s new adventure. TRON: Ares will be in theaters on October 10, 2025.
