At D23, new footage from Tron: Ares was unveiled, and it appears that much of what we thought we knew about the original 1982 Tron and its 2010 sequel is being completely reimagined.
While many are outraged by various film flops and poor business practices of one the biggest entertainment corporations of our time, these flops and follies have become the gold mines of the 21st century. By 2025, one early cyberpunk masterpiece will evolve into one of the most unusual film trilogies ever.
Here’s why the introduction of a new character and the return of Jeff Bridges as Flynn suggest that the next Tron movie is rebooting everything we thought we understood about the franchise.
During D23, it was revealed that Evan Peters will play Julian Dillinger, a name that, as Variety notes, shares the same last name as the human villain Ed Dillinger (played by David Warner) in the original Tron. In Tron: Legacy, Cillian Murphy made a brief cameo as Ed Dillinger Jr., the son of the original Dillinger, but Evan Peters’ character is entirely new. “Dillinger doesn’t always mean great things for those on the grid,” Peters commented.
The new Tron: Ares footage shown at D23 opens with Julian Dillinger, who ominously declares that new life isn’t coming from the stars, but from AI. But who exactly is this character? Is he a secret sibling of Cillian Murphy’s Dillinger? A distant relative of Ed Dillinger? Someone who married into the name? It’s unclear, but the introduction of a third Dillinger in Tron: Ares feels very much like a reboot, suggesting that parts of this new film may subtly contradict the previous two.
The Legacy of Tron: Legacy
The core premise of Tron: Ares revolves around sentient AIs from the Grid—the virtual world in Tron—entering the real world. The central character, Ares (played by Jared Leto), is the primary “Program” crossing over from the Grid, aided by a human programmer named Eve Kim (played by Greta Lee), who, according to Lee, “provides a path for Ares to come into our world.”
Interestingly, the concept of sentient Programs from the Grid crossing into the real world was already explored in Tron: Legacy. In that film, naturally occurring ISOs (Isomorphic Algorithms) were sentient beings not created by humans. By the end of Tron: Legacy, one ISO, Quorra (played by Olivia Wilde), manifests in the real world and is seen riding on Sam Flynn’s (played by Garrett Hedlund) motorcycle. If Tron: Ares is a direct sequel to Tron: Legacy, it will need to either address or ignore this plot point.
However, if Tron: Ares is more of a soft reboot, it’s possible that the ISOs will only receive a brief mention, rather than being fully integrated into the story’s canon. Legacy managed to reconcile inconsistencies with the original movie by introducing a second Grid. Presumably, Tron: Ares will depict yet another iteration of the Grid, which could explain how a digital version of Kevin Flynn is still alive, despite his apparent demise in the previous film.
Notably, none of the new footage or announcements at D23 have mentioned the character Tron, originally played by Bruce Boxleitner in the first film and Tron: Legacy. While most associate “Tron” with the virtual worlds in the series, the name actually refers to the security program created by Alan Bradley (also played by Boxleitner) in the original film. In Legacy, Tron was hidden under the guise of the villainous Rinzler in much of the promotional material, though Alan Bradley did appear in early trailers.
At this point, Jeff Bridges is the only actor confirmed to return for Tron: Ares from all three films. While the cast also includes Jodie Turner-Smith and Gillian Anderson, it remains uncertain whether Bruce Boxleitner will return as Tron or Alan Bradley.
Perhaps the mystery of Tron’s whereabouts will be the biggest twist in Tron: Ares. Or maybe, given that Tron: Ares is shaping up to be a reboot, this new installment might be Tron-less altogether.
