TRON: Ares Teaser: AI Soldier Challenges Human Control

It’s been a little over a week since the start of San Diego Comic-Con, but Disney still has a lot of ground to cover before its main event at the Convention this weekend. Part of Disney’s plan to ramp up excitement for its SDCC presentation includes sharing a new trailer for its upcoming TRON: Ares film, which was directed by Joachim Rønning.

TRON: Ares will take the famed science fiction franchise in a new direction, introducing the titular character as the movie steps away from the digital landscapes of the grid and into the real world.

The last time audiences visited the Grid, the entire world was at risk from the Grid’s power-hungry program Clu, who was being brought to life and used to create a machine-ruled future. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of TRON hero Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) from the 2010 TRON: Legacy, averted disaster at the last minute in the film’s third act by stopping Clu’s merger of the grid and the real world. Sam also managed to escape with a member of a mysterious group of code warriors known as isomorphic algorithms, or ISOs for short, who take on human form, including Quorra (Olivia Wilde), who was being pursued by Clu to be deleted.

Original plans for the third installment in the TRON franchise began developing immediately after Legacy, with a script written that would serve as a direct continuation of the film’s events. Disney greenlit the project in October 2010, with the initial plan being to set the film in the immediate aftermath of Legacy, following the events of the movie as Sam and Quorra go on their adventures while Sam takes over his late father’s business, ENCOM. However, the project’s momentum seemed to slow following Legacy, with Disney formally canceling plans for the film in 2015, in what was largely reported to be due to the commercial performance of the company’s other would-be sci-fi franchise, Tomorrowland.

However, plans for the TRON universe to return were still alive. In 2020, Disney announced that it would be rebooting the project, with TRON: Ares being framed not as a sequel to Legacy but instead as a standalone reboot project. That being said, scripts that had been written years before the project’s re-emergence seem to have found a place in the new movie, including the character Ares, who first appeared in the film as a powerful AI personality in an early script. After a grueling development process, which suffered additional delays from the COVID-19 pandemic and Hollywood’s latest series of strikes and walkouts, TRON: Ares has been finished and will hit theaters in the fall.

Official Synopsis: The First Appearance of A.I. Beings

Disney’s official synopsis of the film reads as follows: “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 stars as Ares in the film, while Evan Peters and Greta Lee will also be featured in the movie, with Peters playing the role of Julian Dillinger and Lee starring as Eve Kim. Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson will also be featured in the film. Jeff Bridges, who reprises the role of Kevin Flynn in the sequel, will also return to the franchise, as will Nine Inch Nails, who were tasked with composing the film’s score.

Trailer Overview: Introducing the “Ultimate Soldier”

Disney’s first look at the film, which was released in April, was more about the style and energy that is typically associated with the TRON franchise, from its neon-infused lines to its slick lightcycles and stunning digital landscapes, than it was an exploration of the film’s plot. However, this week’s new trailer shows that the film will indeed have a plot, though it retains those same eye-catching aesthetics, offering up something that functions as a true first look at the story and its stakes.

It opens with a scene that might as well be from an Apple or Microsoft keynote presentation. Evan Peters’ Julian Dillinger stands in front of a crowd, but it’s clear that he’s in charge of the show, sharing with attendees a few choice words. “So much talk of AI and big tech today. Virtual worlds, what are they going to look like? When will we get there? Well, folks. We’re not going there. They are coming here.”

He follows that up with a reveal of his own, with the corporate executive pulling back the curtain on his own “ultimate soldier.” Said Ares (Jared Leto) as Dillinger explains the program. “He’s biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. And if he is struck down on the battlefield…” — at this point, Dillinger appears to knock Ares down in the middle of the presentation — “…I will simply make you another.” The simple act affirms Dillinger’s status as a power-hungry corporate executive who is all too happy to make his interpretation of the future of AI.

However, the trailer also hints that that may not be the case. Dillinger may believe that Ares is a tool that he has at his disposal and is as disposable as it needs to be. But Ares appears to be on his journey, embarking on what he has been programmed to understand as a search for something that is beyond his ability to define. The teaser certainly sets up the interesting nature of a film, which seems to be as interested in exploring the philosophical aspects of its characters and their journeys as much as the more action-packed ones, when Kevin Flynn himself materializes in the virtual world to question the motivations of a program. “A malfunctioning program that wants to live, why is that?”

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