TRON Returns With AI Twist in Ares Trailer

San Diego Comic-Con is only a few days away, and in the lead-up to the show, Disney has shared a new trailer for TRON: Ares.

The latest addition to the long-running science fiction franchise is directed by Joachim Rønning, and in the new trailer, we finally get a sense of what the movie is all about. The studio’s synopsis states that Ares “is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, leading to humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings”.

It’s clear from the trailer that Ares will have a much more significant purpose than just being a random program to see up close.

Where we left off

If you’ve kept up with the franchise, the last time fans were in the Grid was in 2010’s TRON: Legacy. That film followed Sam Flynn, played by Garrett Hedlund, the son of TRON protagonist Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges).

Near the end of Legacy, Sam uncovered a plan to combine the digital world and reality, initiated by the Grid’s ruling program, Clu. In addition to this, Sam and Clu escaped with a copy of the TRIAD, and he took along Quorra (Olivia Wilde), an isomorphic algorithm (ISO) who was out to be deleted.

The initial plan for TRON 3 was to pick up right where Legacy left off, as Disney officially greenlit the project in October 2010. However, development for the third installment of the franchise was a bit of a slog.

What was set to be the story of Sam and Quorra’s adventures, and Sam taking over his father’s company ENCOM, began to fall apart. Disney officially announced the sequel was no longer going forward in 2015, reportedly, in part, because of a disappointing box office for its sci-fi release, Tomorrowland.

Tron: Ares is not over yet

In 2020, the studio resurrected the idea, but as a stand-alone reboot rather than a direct continuation. However, it seems that some elements of previous script drafts remained, including the character Ares, an AI who would appear as a significant player in the story in earlier versions.

After multiple pandemic delays and post-production tied to Hollywood’s most recent labor strikes, TRON: Ares is complete and is currently scheduled for a fall release.

TRON: Ares stars Jared Leto as Ares, Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger, and Greta Lee as Eve Kim, alongside Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson.

Reprising his role as Kevin Flynn from the original movie is Jeff Bridges, and the film will be scored by Nine Inch Nails.

The first trailer from back in April was light on plot, but the studio kept many of the eye-popping visual details that fans of TRON know and love — bright neon lines, stylized lightcycles, and jaw-dropping digital vistas.

A new mission

This week’s release offers some actual glimpses of what the story and the stakes are about, as well as a bit of sci-fi theater that plays like an Apple or Google corporate keynote event.

Actor Julian Dillinger takes the stage in front of an audience to make a big announcement. He talks about all the promises of AI and Big Tech, and how virtual worlds are talked about so often. But he has some news: “We’re not going there. They are coming here.”

After that tantalizing prologue, Dillinger finally reveals his work, and who could be a more perfect figurehead than the “ultimate soldier.” Dillinger goes on to explain: “He’s biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. And if he is struck down on the battlefield…”

Here, Dillinger goes full swagger, thumping Ares, who falls out of his stage presentation. “I will simply make you another.”

TRON: Ares (2025) official trailer

Ares is Dillinger’s killer bot, and the corporate CEO is playing God with his new creation. But Ares has a mission of his own, and it’s not one that Dillinger has laid out.

The viewer follows Ares on a much more personal quest to find the thing he cannot quite define. There’s some interesting philosophical ground to be covered here as Kevin Flynn finds Ares in the Matrix-like virtual world, with the enigmatic question: “A malfunctioning program who wants to live, why is that?”

Fans will have a big-name cameo in Jeff Bridges as Flynn. But with Jared Leto in the central role as an AI figure making the transition to the real world, the filmmaker could spin this story into new and interesting directions, playing with the timeless man-machine question.

Stay tuned for more Comic-Con coverage and be sure to follow our San Diego Comic-Con guide for everything you need to know before going to the show, including panels, preview screenings, and more.