Rumor: Tron sequel starring Jared Leto may be moving forward

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

For twenty-eight years, director Steven Lisberger's TRON was a standalone sci-fi adventure. Then in 2010 Joseph Kosinski took fans back to the world of TRON with the film TRON: LEGACY – and since then things have gotten kind of messy. Kosinski wanted to make a third TRON film, to be called TRON: ASCENSION, but Disney cancelled the project when their movie TOMORROWLAND underperformed. Apparently the script for TRON: ASCENSION would have featured a character named Ares, and back in 2017 it was revealed that Jared Leto was in talks to star in a TRON reboot / spin-off as this Ares character, even though the film wouldn't be TRON: ASCENSION. Kosinski then said that he had nearly given Leto a cameo in TRON: LEGACY, in the End of Line club where Lisberger did make a cameo.

Plans for a new TRON film faded into the background when John Ridley was hired to develop a TRON series for Disney+… but then the series plans were scrapped, supposedly because Disney decided they wanted to make a TRON feature after all.

Now The Disinsider has reported that the TRON movie Disney wants to make is the one that has Leto attached to star in it, but it's not a reboot / spin-off. According to the Disinsider, 

the film is expected to be more of Tron sequel rather than a reboot, and the cast from Tron: Legacy could return. It is unknown at this time if the film will follow the same story as the canceled third Tron film, Tron: Ascension, which would have seen the machine world of The Grid invade the real world.

The site also points out that Mitchell Leib, the President of Music & Soundtracks at Disney, was recently interviewed on the Light the Fuse podcast, and during the interview he mentioned that he has already talked to Daft Punk, composers of the score for TRON: LEGACY, about them doing the music for another TRON movie. 

Whatever this new TRON may be, it doesn't sound like Kosinski is going to be at the helm. Disney is said to be searching for a director, with multiple names currently in the mix.

We'll keep you updated on the third TRON film if/when we hear anything more about it. In the meantime, I should probably finally get around to watching TRON: LEGACY. The last ten years have gone by quickly.