Jared Leto may be the main star of the upcoming Tron: Ares, but we now know the face of the franchise will also join him. In a new podcast, Jeff Bridges revealed that he’s returning to the third film in a franchise that he headlined both in 1982's original and 2010's sequel.
“I’m heading off this Saturday to play a part in the third installment of the Tron story. I’m excited about that,” Bridges said on the Film Comment podcast, about 29 minutes into that link. “[Jared] Leto is the star of this third one. I’m really anxious to work with him. I’ve admired his work.” It’s definitely worth listening to the interview to hear Bridges reminisce about the white leotard he had to wear in Tron, as well as the motion capture tech he endured while being “de-aged” for Tron: Legacy (“I didn’t like the way I looked... I felt like I looked more like Bill Maher than myself. It was kind of bizarre.”) He also talks excitedly about Tron: Ares’ “beautiful” practical sets.
In the original Tron, Bridges played Kevin Flynn, a genius computer programmer that gets sucked into an undiscovered digital world. He reprised the role in the sequel Tron: Legacy, both as the character 30 years later and a digital version of him named Clu. Both characters appear to die at the end of the film but it’s not 100% definitive—and we also know copies are easy to come by in a digital world. io9 reached out to Disney for comment or clarification on the news and has not heard back as of publication. The studio did, however, confirm the casting news with this tweet:
We don’t know much about Tron: Ares since it won’t be released until October of next year, but what little can gloss comes from the official description: “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 AI beings.” Leto is Ares and, as we saw in the first image, he’s a product of Dillinger, which was the name of the main adversary for Flynn and his company, Encom.
What this news does do is firmly link a story that is seemingly standalone with the history and world of the previous movies. And that’s an original 1984 grid helmet in the image, right? Is that some kind of tease?
We’ll find out on October 10, 2025 when Tron: Ares hits theaters.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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