Tron: Ares

Tron: Ares is a 2025 American science fiction action film directed by Joachim Rønning and written by Jesse Wigutow, from a story by Wigutow and David DiGilio. It is the third installment in the Tron series and sequel to Tron: Legacy (2010). The film stars Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson, with Jeff Bridges reprising his role as Kevin Flynn from the first two films. The story is about artificial intelligence originating from the Grid entering the real world, namely a highly advanced program called Ares.

Development of a sequel to Tron: Legacy began in October 2010 by franchise creator Steven Lisberger. In March 2017, Walt Disney Pictures shifted plans toward a soft reboot with Leto playing a new character. Garth Davis was set as director in August 2020 when Wigutow was working on the script, but stepped down in January 2023. Rønning replaced him a month later. Production was expected to begin in August 2023 but was delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Filming ultimately began in January 2024 in Vancouver and finished in May. By August, industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails had been announced to be composing the score. The band's members, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, served as executive producers on the film, alongside Legacy director Joseph Kosinski.

Tron: Ares premiered in Los Angeles on October 6, 2025, and went into general release on October 10. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was considered a box office disappointment, grossing $142 million worldwide on a production budget of $180–220 million.

Plot

In 2025, ENCOM and Dillinger Systems are in a race to bring digital constructs into reality. Dillinger Systems is led by Julian Dillinger, former ENCOM executive Ed Dillinger's grandson, and ENCOM is led by Eve Kim. Eve and her partner Seth Flores visit a remote station near Skagway, Alaska set up by Kevin Flynn decades ago, believing his computers hold the "permanence code" to break the 29-minute barrier holding back the constructs. After finding the code, they transfer a digital orange tree into the real world, where it lasts indefinitely, even failing to freeze in the frigid weather.

Meanwhile, Julian introduces Ares, a Master Control Program (MCP), to shareholders, calling him the "perfect, expendable soldier". Ares shows self-awareness, such as an interest in real-world phenomena as well as noting Julian's indifference to his survival. After Ares de-materializes, Julian's mother, Elisabeth, expresses concern about the limited lifespan. Julian disregards this and later uses Ares to attack ENCOM's grid for the permanence code. A security fight ensues as Ares downloads Eve's personal data. During their escape, Ares, against his programming, tries saving an injured program, but Julian pulls him out and disables ENCOM's Grid. After being returned to the outside world, Ares is able to track Eve's private jet, after it leaves Skagway.

Eve and Seth return to ENCOM with the permanence code. Their colleague, Ajay Singh, reports Julian's cyberattack, forcing Eve to flee while Julian and Ares track her, with Ares and his second-in-command Athena chasing Eve on Light Cycles. Eve hits Athena and hijacks her Light Cycle, but Ares corners her in a nearby port, where Eve destroys the drive containing the code. As Ares approaches the end of his 29 minute "life-span", he recognizes Eve's empathy towards his plight. As Ares and Athena de-resolve (get "derezzed"), Julian digitizes Eve into the Dillinger Grid.

Julian becomes more determined to retrieve the code. Ares reveals it can be obtained using Eve's identity disc but will kill her as a result; Julian accepts this risk. However, Ares then lies to Athena, claiming that Julian is "indisposed" and attempts to bargain with Eve, asking to achieve permanence in exchange for Eve's freedom. Suspicious of Ares' behavior, Athena contacts Julian and, deciding that Ares is malfunctioning, returns with orders to de-rez Ares. Ares and Eve are able to evade their pursuers and return to Dillinger headquarters.

En route to ENCOM headquarters, Eve and Ares reflect on their motivations, with Ares continuing to show signs of individuality and determining that Eve pursued the Permanence Code out of a sense of inferiority to her sister, who worked on humanitarian projects. Eve realizes a copy of the code might be stored in a museum display at ENCOM of Kevin Flynn's original office. They reunite with Seth to digitize and upload Ares onto Flynn's original grid. Athena destroys the particle laser to trap Ares and then pursues Eve. The sprinkler system activates, and Athena shows a moment of self-awareness before de-materializing. Ajay and his assistant Erin arrive, and Seth and Eve explain their plan to use Athena's own particle laser so they can hack the Dillinger Grid.

Elisabeth retakes the CEO position and she tries turning off the particle lasers, but Athena re-materializes and fatally stabs her, having interpreted her as an obstacle in the directive given by Julian to obtain the code "by any means", before proceeding with her mission. Julian, horrified by Athena's actions, is unable to stop her. On Flynn's grid, Ares encounters an aspect of Flynn, and they discuss Ares's desire for permanence. Intrigued by Ares's wish to live permanently with his internal awareness, and his desire to save Eve, Flynn grants Ares the permanence code and sends him to Flynn's Arcade via a backdoor where he re-materializes.

Athena pilots a Recognizer into the city to find Eve, and eventually captures her while the ENCOM staff breach the Dillinger Grid. As Athena prepares to return to Dillinger, Ares intercepts them, engaging Athena and her unit. Ajay, Seth, and Erin penetrate and shut down the Dillinger mainframe, preventing any of the Dillinger programs (barring Ares) from re-materializing. A wounded Athena permanently de-materializes in Ares' arms. The police raid the Dillinger headquarters, but Julian uses the laser to digitize himself. Eve and Ares go their separate ways, with ENCOM using the permanence code to benefit the world.

Ares later sends Eve a postcard about his life outside the Grid and plans to find Flynn's son, Sam, and his companion, Quorra. Eve reconstructs the Skagway facility on top of ENCOM tower, including the orange tree. Meanwhile, Julian explores the damaged Dillinger Grid and is transformed by an identity disc that belonged to his grandfather's program, Sark.

Cast

• Jared Leto as Ares, a combat program created by Julian Dillinger
• Greta Lee as Eve Kim, the current chief executive officer (CEO) of ENCOM who is in search of Kevin Flynn's Permanence Code
  • Miru Kim as young Eve
• Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger, the CEO of Dillinger Systems and the grandson of Ed Dillinger
• Jodie Turner-Smith as Athena, a program second-in-command to Ares
• Hasan Minhaj as Ajay Singh, Eve's business partner and chief technology officer (CTO) of ENCOM
• Arturo Castro as Seth Flores, a colleague and friend of Eve
• Gillian Anderson as Elisabeth Dillinger, Julian's mother and the daughter of Ed Dillinger
• Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, the former CEO of ENCOM who is now a digital construct within his original grid.
• Cameron Monaghan as Caius, a combat program and member of Ares' elite special forces unit
• Sarah Desjardins as Erin, an ENCOM employee and Ajay's assistant
• Selene Yun as Tess Kim, Eve's deceased sister
  • Catherine Haena Kim as Tess Kim (voice)
  • Narsha Kim as young Tess
• Aaron Paul Stewart as Cyber Security Pete
• Roger Cross as Cross, a high-end executive at Dillinger Systems, and Julian Dillinger's right-hand.
• Roark Critchlow as General McGrath, a member of the military that attended Julian Dillinger's pitch
• Katharine Isabelle as Marcia Lee Hadlow, an attendee of Julian Dillinger's pitch
• Gary Vaynerchuk as Stuart Roche, an attendee of Julian Dillinger's pitch
• Kwesi Ameyaw as Silvio

Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross make cameo appearances as two F-35 pilots. Shannon Leto, brother of Jared Leto and co-founder of Thirty Seconds to Mars, makes a brief appearance as a pizza parlor patron who witnesses the climax. Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde appear in their Tron: Legacy (2010) roles as Sam Flynn and Quorra through archival photos, and archive audio of David Warner as the original Master Control Program from Tron (1982) is used. Reporters Robin Roberts, Kara Swisher, Curt Sandoval, Jaclyn Lee, Trevor Ault, and Zohreen Shah appear as themselves, as does computer scientist Fei-Fei Li.

Production

Development

Original concept

Development of a direct sequel to Tron: Legacy was announced in October 2010 by franchise creator Steven Lisberger, with Legacy screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz set to return. In April 2011, director Joseph Kosinski stated the script was still in development, and confirmed that the story would continue from Tron: Legacy. He stated that the relationship of the characters of Garrett Hedlund's Sam Flynn and Olivia Wilde's Quorra would be "the next step", with the plot following their adventures in the real world. On March 31, 2011, Kosinski said that the film's script was expected to be finished in two weeks and its working title was TR3N.