Jared Leto is the ultimate soldier in new TRON: Ares trailer

San Diego Comic-Con is coming up next week, and Disney is getting ready for its big presentation by releasing a new trailer for TRON: Ares, directed by Joachim Rønning.

(Spoilers for TRON: Legacy below.)

As previously reported, TRON: Legacy ended with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) from the original film, preventing the digital world from bleeding into the real world, as planned by the Grid’s malevolent ruling program, Clu. He brought with him Quorra (Olivia Wilde), a naturally occurring isomorphic algorithm targeted for extinction by Clu.

Disney greenlit a third film in the franchise in October 2010, intended to pick up where Legacy left off and follow the adventures of Sam and Quorra as Sam took full control of his father’s company, ENCOM. However, by 2015, the studio had canceled the project, reportedly due to the dismal box office performance of Tomorrowland. By 2020, the project had been revived and reimagined as a standalone reboot rather than a Legacy sequel, although the main AI, Ares, appeared in earlier (pre-reboot) versions of the script. One pandemic and a couple of Hollywood strikes later, the finished film is finally set to hit theaters this fall.

The official premise is succinct: “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, with Evan Peters and Greta Lee playing Julian Dillinger and Eve Kim, respectively. The cast also includes Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson. Bridges is returning as Kevin Flynn. Nine Inch Nails composed the soundtrack.

Disney released the first trailer back in April, which was short on plot but had the show-stopping visuals we’ve come to expect from all things TRON.  Those visuals remain stunning in this new trailer, which opens with what is clearly a conference presentation by Dillinger. “So much talk of AI and big tech today,” he says. “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.”

Then he introduces his “ultimate soldier,” Leto’s Ares.  “He’s biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. And if he is struck down on the battlefield”—Dillinger demonstrates by striking down his creation on stage, cementing his image as a corporate jerk—”I will simply make you another.”

Dillinger thinks he’s in control of all this, but it looks like he might be in for a shock. Among other things, Ares is on a personal mission, looking for something he doesn’t really understand. Cue Bridges’ Kevin Flynn, still in the virtual realm, who finds Ares’ existential dilemma fascinating: “A  malfunctioning program who wants to live, why is that?”

Tron: Ares arrives to theaters on October 10, 2025.