TRON: Ares Trailer Teases AI’s Leap Into the Real World

San Diego Comic-Con is just a few days away, and in advance of their headline event, Disney has just released a brand new TRON: Ares trailer. The live-action film is set to hit theaters in October next year, and the new trailer, just in time for Comic-Con, gives us our first look at what the new chapter in this world could be like.

Directed by Joachim Rønning, the movie is a new entry in the TRON film series, and a reboot of the TRON: Legacy universe, as TRON: Ares takes place in the real world. So far, the last TRON film we visited was in the digital world, known as the Grid, in the 2010s film TRON: Legacy. The story centered around Kevin Flynn’s (Jeff Bridges) son Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) as Sam is able to save the Grid from a takeover, as Clu, the main computer program in the Grid and son of Flynn, wants to merge the digital and real world together. He also helps Flynn’s daughter Quorra (Olivia Wilde) escape as Clu is intent on erasing her, as she is one of a rare breed of self-learning AI programs known as an isomorphic algorithm, or ISO.

Disney had originally intended to follow up on TRON: Legacy with a third TRON film; however, things did not go quite as planned. The studio greenlit a direct follow-up to Legacy as far back as October of 2010, and the movie would have seen Sam and Quorra travel to the Grid as Flynn takes over his father’s ENCOM company. However, five years later, the sequel was officially canceled, and that was believed to have been at least partly due to the poor box office performance of another of the studio’s sci-fi offerings at the time, Tomorrowland.

That was not the end of the line for TRON, however, as in 2020, the studio once again moved forward with a live-action TRON film; however, this time, it was going to be a standalone reboot as opposed to the direct sequel originally intended. However, elements of the earlier storyboards and script did remain as the plans for TRON: Ares did include a main character known as Ares, which was previously an AI mainframe in the films.

After facing several delays, including several setbacks caused by the pandemic and Hollywood’s recent strikes and labor issues, TRON: Ares is finished, and after originally being set for release in the summer, it has since been moved to fall. “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,” reads the official plot synopsis. The film is set to star Jared Leto as Ares, with Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger, Greta Lee as Eve Kim, Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, Sarah Desjardins, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson. Jeff Bridges will also return to the role as Flynn, and the score is by Nine Inch Nails.

Trailer Summary: The “Ultimate Soldier” Comes To Earth

While the first trailer was a pretty gorgeous watch, full of the sights we have come to expect from TRON, we were left with few clues as to what the film might be about. The first trailer, released back in April, was fairly visual, but didn’t give us much in terms of the plot or stakes of this potential universe. The new trailer released this week keeps many of the eye-popping aesthetics but gives us a look into the character and story we can expect.

The new trailer begins with a look into a moment that could just be straight out of a tech keynote presentation, as Julian Dillinger is speaking to his audience and says: “So much talk of AI and big tech today. Virtual worlds, what are they going to look like, and when will we get there? Well, folks. We’re not going there. They are coming here.”

Dillinger then proceeds to introduce his “ultimate soldier,” as he calls him. Ares, he boasts to the audience as he continues to speak about him: “He’s biblically strong, lightning fast, and supremely intelligent. And if he is struck down on the battlefield…” At this point, Dillinger smacks Ares as the figure topples over in the presentation. “…I will simply make you another.”

It seems quite clear from this sequence that Dillinger is portrayed as a greedy, tech CEO who has brought the AI Ares into the real world and firmly believes he is at the helm of this new AI.

Or so he thinks. Ares does not seem to be under the control of the man he was created for, however, as the trailer cuts away to Ares as he seems to be on a mission of his own, as he sets off into a blinding blue light, not sure of what he’s looking for but committed to finding it. This small moment feels like it could be the perfect setup for some exploration of deeper themes in the A.I. genre, as Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) himself is in the virtual world and asks: “A malfunctioning program who wants to live, why is that?”

What might be nostalgia bait is the appearance of Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, and while it is still to be determined as to if we are heading into the Grid, there is the return of the same sense of style and aesthetics that makes TRON one of the most visually unique universes of all. This includes the score, as the film will feature music by Nine Inch Nails.