Disney Drops New TRON: Ares Trailer Ahead of Comic-Con

Disney has released a new trailer for TRON: Ares, the upcoming reboot of the classic sci-fi franchise that will see the legendary franchise returning for its fourth installment under director Joachim Rønning. This TRON movie will depart from the film and video games that have followed it in the past, opting instead to take the story back out of the digital world and into the real one.

The last time viewers saw the fictional Grid computer network on which the TRON series is set was at the end of the 2010s' TRON: Legacy. In that movie, viewers followed Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of TRON OG Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), as he saved the Grid from being overpowered by the Clu program. Sam also ended up stealing the titular TRON at the film’s conclusion after eluding Clu and escaping with Quorra (Olivia Wilde), an isomorphic algorithm (ISO) who was a target for deletion within the Grid itself.

What was supposed to be the third film in the series, which was set to take place immediately after TRON: Legacy, eventually fell apart, despite Disney greenlighting the project back in October 2010. The idea was that Sam and Quorra’s adventures within the digital Grid, which saw Sam take over his father’s company, ENCOM, would be next up, but the project was reportedly squashed over time after the commercial failure of Disney’s other sci-fi title at the time, Tomorrowland, in 2015. TRON came back to life again in 2020, with Disney eventually greenlighting what would become TRON: Ares, though this version was different from the previously planned project.

Rather than acting as a direct sequel to TRON: Legacy, TRON: Ares is set to act as a standalone reboot, though some concepts from the previous scrapped sequel did remain, such as Ares, who was one of the main artificial intelligences found in earlier scripts and appears to be a significant piece of the story this time around. Despite delays due to both the pandemic and Hollywood’s recent strikes, TRON: Ares is now finished and ready for release, with the film set to hit theaters in the fall of 2025.

“The ultimate soldier is going to war, but this time, the battlefield is the real world,” reads Disney’s official synopsis of the film. “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 in the lead role as Ares, and is joined by Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger, and Greta Lee as Eve Kim, with the cast also featuring Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson. Notably, Jeff Bridges will be reprising his role as Kevin Flynn from the original TRON, while industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails has been confirmed as the composer for the film.

Trailer Recap: The “Battlefield Is the Real World”

The first trailer was released in April of this year and gave viewers a first look at what to expect from the return of TRON. The trailer was met with positivity thanks to the reinvigoration of TRON’s classic neon style, with its bright lines and lightcycles, and digital-looking graphics, but didn’t provide much more in the way of any tangible details regarding the film’s story. This new trailer is still heavily focused on TRON’s trademark visuals, but also allows viewers to get a firmer grasp on the stakes at play.

The trailer for TRON: Ares this time around kicks off with a familiar scene, albeit in the context of the real world. Julian Dillinger is seen giving a keynote speech to an audience of people, where he drops a provocative line. “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.” Following the ominous speech, Dillinger reveals his “ultimate soldier.”

The next part of the presentation by Dillinger is purely hubris as he shows off a soldier named Ares, as Ares is revealed to be biblically strong and faster than a speeding bullet, while also being supremely intelligent, according to Dillinger, who jokes at one point during the reveal, “And if he is struck down on the battlefield…” — after which Dillinger shoves Ares out of the way, rendering him flat on the ground in front of the captivated audience — “…I will simply make you another.” This moment cements Dillinger as the type of corporate villain who would rather bend the law than adhere to it and seems ready to shape the world into what he thinks AI should become.

The trailer for TRON: Ares also appears to subvert the expectations that Dillinger and, by extension, viewers might have of Ares and AIs in general. Dillinger sees Ares as a tool to be used at his disposal, and his description of Ares makes it sound like an army at his command, but the trailer also shows Ares on his mission, though one that he can’t completely define or even seem to remember. In this pursuit, Ares is searching for what he needs, at least that’s the way he seems to see it, which will likely lead to some fun philosophical musings as Kevin Flynn is seen in the virtual world asking, “A malfunctioning program who wants to live, why is that?”