Kevin Flynn Returns in TRON: Ares — New Trailer Released

It’s only a matter of days until the San Diego Comic-Con begins, and the official Disney program for the event is finally here. As expected, Disney will hold a virtual keynote as part of the festivities, and a new first look at TRON: Ares has been dropped in anticipation.

TRON: Ares was originally going to continue directly after 2010’s TRON: Legacy, but that idea quickly fell by the wayside. Now, it’s set to be a new chapter in the popular science-fiction franchise, with director Joachim Rønning at the helm. The most noticeable thing about the upcoming flick, based on the preview, is that the movie itself is set in the “real world,” as opposed to the “Grid” of its predecessors.

TRON: Legacy was the last time audiences went on an adventure within the Grid, and the film followed Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of TRON protagonist Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). The movie saw Flynn disrupt a scheme from the Grid’s powerful Clu program, which essentially wanted to merge the virtual and real worlds. Flynn also got away with an Iso named Quorra (Olivia Wilde), who was like a living, breathing algorithm.

Disney greenlit a third TRON movie in October 2010, which was just as the end of TRON: Legacy was taking place. At that time, the third installment was supposed to see Sam team up with Quorra, as Sam took over his late father’s company, ENCOM. However, the film eventually fell apart and was canceled in 2015, after the box office flop of another Disney sci-fi film, Tomorrowland.

TRON made another comeback in 2020, though this was more of a standalone reboot than a sequel to Legacy. However, it appears that some elements from the earlier, scrapped TRON: Ascension screenplay were brought into the current film, as the character of Ares still has a presence in this new installment. Ares is a high-level AI program that the movie will follow, having been introduced into the real world after completing a mission in the Grid.

The film was heavily affected by the Hollywood strikes last year, which saw it pushed back numerous times. It’s now been finished and will be making its way to theaters this fall, with an October 10 release date. The official synopsis reads: “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.” Jared Leto is the leading man as the titular Ares, with Evan Peters playing Julian Dillinger and Greta Lee as Eve Kim. Additional cast members include Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson. Bridges will also reprise his role as Flynn, and the score will be handled by Nine Inch Nails.

The Trailer: The “Ultimate Soldier” Comes To Earth

TRON: Ares’s first trailer was made available back in April, and while it left audiences with very little sense of what the plot was about, the aesthetics of the film were there. As usual with the TRON franchise, neon lines crisscrossed a dark setting, bright lightcycles zoomed around cities, and futuristic digital landscapes were on full display.

This new trailer, which was just released this week, retains most of those flashy elements but gives a little bit more to the overall story. The film opens with what might as well be a tech industry keynote: Julian Dillinger is giving a speech about AI. “So much talk of AI and big tech today. Virtual worlds, what are they going to look like, and when will we get there? Well, folks. We’re not going there. They are coming here.”

He then reveals the “ultimate soldier,” named Ares, who Dillinger will use to continue his agenda. “He’s biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. And if he is struck down on the battlefield…” Dillinger proceeds to knock Ares over during the presentation as he says, “…I will simply make you another.” The demonstration establishes that Dillinger is a powerful man with no qualms about how he deals with others, and this trailer hints at how Dillinger is like a god complex figure.

However, it might not be as cut and dry as that. While Dillinger thinks he’s in control of this creation, Ares might be after something more, as the AI program seems to be looking for something in a highly personal way. Ares’s mission is to find a specific thing, which Ares is mostly unaware of. This sets up a nice philosophical element about the film, especially when Flynn himself shows up in the virtual world to ask, “A malfunctioning program who wants to live, why is that?”

TRON: Ares will hit theaters on October 10, 2025.