In the 15 years since the premiere of Disney’s first big legacy sequel, TRON: Legacy (a sequel to 1982’s TRON), the entire film industry changed. Now not only are these late-stage follow-ups to beloved (citation needed) movies commonplace, they sort of rule the franchise roost. So now we’ve gotten to the point where Disney is making a legacy sequel to its legacy sequel. TRON: Ares lands in a time when AI has become a real threat to humanity. Not, of course, through war and subjugation, but the more insidious method of making bullshit art. But this trailer looks cool at any rate.
The trailer immediately shows us a different take on the TRON thing. Specifically, the iconic light cycles from the computer world are on the real streets of reality. One of ’em splits a police car in half! That’s bang out of order! The color scheme here for the computery stuff is all red all the time. If you recall, red is the traditional color of bad guys. We also get to see Greta Lee run from a big red airship thing. Which is quite cool too.
TRON: Ares is directed by Joachim Rønning, who is no stranger to Disney sequels. He’d previously directed Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Here he has Jared Leto as the lead, playing the titular Ares, a sentient program looking for answers to a mystery in the real world. Along with Leto and Lee, the cast includes Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, with Gillian Anderson, and Jeff Bridges. Naturally, we hear Bridges’ trademark growl in the trailer’s closing moments.
The biggest selling point here for me is a brand new score by Nine Inch Nails. Not only is Trent Reznor one of the best film composers working today (along with Atticus Ross), a heavy, industrial score will set this movie apart from TRON: Legacy which had a superb Daft Punk score. Famously Daft Punk has broken up, so it was a non-starter to have them back for this movie. But NIN is an immediate shift in tone from Daft Punk, so that really speaks to the movie’s darker vibe.
The two previous TRON films have been dazzling visual feasts, so I’m definitely hoping this one lives up to that. Bringing the black-on-neon vibes of the digital world into the real world will take some getting used to. But we’ve played Cyberpunk 2077 so it should be an easy transition.
TRON: Ares, filmed for IMAX, will hit cinemas October 10, 2025.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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