(Updated 11/06/2024)
TRON is one of the most interesting movie franchises out there. The first film was released in 1982, with the second, TRON: LEGACY, following in 2010. Because the look of TRON is so specific, and can be replicated using CG artistry, these movies had a great deal of continuity even with nearly 30 years between them.
Now, the third movie, TRON: ARES, is set to arrive in 2025. The new movie features the same focus on gaming and digital worlds, and the collision of digital and real worlds. Jared Leto stars in the movie. Here's everything we know about TRON: ARES.
What's the Tron: Ares Release Date?
Walt Disney Pictures will release TRON: ARES on October 10, 2025.
Is There a Trailer for Tron: Ares?
There is no trailer for TRON: ARES right now. We have not seen any footage at all, in fact. The only official material is the image above, and we know virtually nothing about the context around this picture.
But we do know that the new TRON movie wrapped production in May of 2024, so the filmmaking team has already had a lot of time to get into the extensive post-production process. That means that a trailer isn't out of the question by the end of 2024. In fact, with a couple of big Disney releases coming up — namely MOANA 2 and MUFASA — there's a good chance that Disney will debut the first TRON: ARES trailer to play theatrically in front of one or both of those movies.
What's the Plot of Tron: Ares?
As with everything else about this movie, we know very little about the story, characters, and plot of TRON: ARES. All we have to go on is the official synopsis from Disney, which is pretty vague! It says, "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."
And while that sounds very much in line with what we'd expect from a modern TRON sequel, especially after the end of TRON LEGACY, it also tells us virtually nothing.
How Did Tron: Legacy End, Anyway?
The last movie, TRON: LEGACY, centered on Sam Flynn, the son of original Tron game designer Kevin Flynn. Obsessed with his father's disappearance, Sam makes a wild business decision which, in a roundabout way, lands him in the Grid, the same digital landscape where Kevin Flynn has been existing for decades. Clu, a digital avatar of Kevin Flynn that runs the Grid, wants to escape into physical reality in order to rule that as well.
Ultimately, Kevin Flynn and Clu are integrated, destroying each of their individual identities. With the help of Quorra, the incarnation of an algorithm and an apprentice of Kevin Flynn, Sam escapes back into the physical world. Sam deactivates the Grid, but only after backing it up, and leaves his father's old partner, Alan Bradley, in charge of ENCOM as Sam and Quorra ride off into the sunset.
None of which, unfortunately, gives us a lot to go on with respect to TRON: ARES. If Sam Flynn returns for this movie, that fact ahs been kept secret by Disney. And Quorra does not appear to be involved, either.
Who's in the Cast of Tron: Ares?
TRON: Ares stars Jared Leto as Ares, the program sent into the physical world. Jeff Bridges returns as Kevin Flynn, though we do not know in what form we'll see the character. Greta Lee plays Eve Kim, who is the CEO of a tech company, and potentially a driver of the plot, while Evan Peters plays Julian Dillinger. That name pins him down as a descendant of Ed Dillinger, the villain of the original TRON.
The TRON: ARES cast features an additional host of strong actors, though at this point we know little about their roles. Gillian Anderson, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, and Cameron Monaghan are in the movie.
The Filmmakers Behind Tron: Ares
While TRON: LEGACY filmmaker Joseph Kosinski developed a sequel to that movie for several years, eventually he moved on to make TOP GUN: MAVERICK instead, among other projects. TRON: ARES was directed by Joachim Rønning, who came on board in early 2023. Rønning has a lot of experience working with Disney, as he co-directed the last PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie, then made the second MALEFICENT movie and this year's YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA for the studio.
Jesse Wigutow and Jack Thorne wrote TRON: ARES, and frequent David Fincher collaborator Jeff Cronenweth (FIGHT CLUB, GONE GIRL) served as cinematographer.
Nine Inch Nails Is Doing the Tron: Ares Score
TRON: LEGACY got a big boost from its score, created by Daft Punk. In fact, that score is one of the best film scores of the 2010s, and endures as perhaps the most significant aspect of the second TRON movie. Which is to say, there are big shoes to fill!
So the fact that Nine Inch Nails is doing the TRON: ARES score is a huge deal. The primary members of NIN are Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who score many movies under their personal names. (In fact, they scored three of the movies that this movie's cinematographer did with David Fincher, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and GONE GIRL.) But there is only one previous soundtrack effort created using the Nine Inch Nails band name, and that was the 1996 score for the video game, "Quake."
The last Nine Inch Nails releases were the instrumental albums "Ghosts V: Together" and "Ghosts VI: Locusts," which both came out in 2020. A new Nine Inch Nails record is an event, so the fact that their first proper NIN release in five years will be the score to TRON: ARES is wild.
TRON: ARES opens on October 10, 2025
All images courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.