In 2025, the Tron franchise remains one of Disney’s most iconic and enduring sci-fi properties—and arguably its best original one. There’s a reason both the original Tron and its sequel Tron: Legacy are regarded as modern classics in the genre.
With Tron: Ares, the latest entry in the series, it’s no surprise that the film delivers another original and compelling science-fiction story—one that may stand among the best big-budget sci-fi releases of the year. Tron: Ares returns us to the world of Tron, grounding the story in our modern era while exploring the boundaries of artificial intelligence, digital consciousness, and the blurred line between science fiction and science fact.
Each generation since 1982 has experienced Tron as both a digital adventure and a groundbreaking experiment in visual storytelling. Once again, this new film pushes those same limits—technologically and thematically.
Unlike Tron: Legacy, Tron: Ares is not a direct sequel. The familiar characters from Legacy are no longer at the forefront—instead, we meet a new generation of figures carrying forward the promise left by Sam Flynn and Quorra at the end of the last film.
That promise—to bring something or someone from the Grid into the real world—becomes the foundation of this story. At the end of Legacy, Quorra crossed over into reality with Sam Flynn, hinting at a new era of coexistence between programs and humans. Ares finally answers the question posed then: What if a program came into our world?
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The program—or artificial intelligence—at the center of the film is the titular Ares, played by Jared Leto. Created by the recurring antagonists of the series, the Dillinger family, Ares is a product of their company, Dillinger Systems. In a bid to rival ECOM—the company once run by Kevin Flynn and now led by Eve Kim (Greta Lee)—Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) pushes forward with his own synthetic creation.
Eve and Julian embody the next generation of their families’ legacies, both grappling with inherited ideals. Eve honors her late sister’s dream of finding the film’s MacGuffin, the “Permanence Code,” a discovery that could give programs full lifecycles in the real world. Julian, meanwhile, mirrors his grandfather’s darker ambitions, intent on weaponizing the Grid for control.
The result is a high-stakes war between two corporations—and two ideologies—over the nature of digital life. Between them stands Ares, whose creation sparks the moral and emotional core of the film.
Ares: The Digital Soul
At the beginning, Ares is merely a digital weapon—an obedient tool built for conquest. But as he begins to interact with both the Grid and the real world, he starts questioning his orders, gradually evolving into a being of free will.
Leto plays Ares with an introspective depth, channeling elements of Frankenstein’s monster—a creation struggling to understand life, purpose, and morality. Like Tron before him, Ares eventually chooses to “fight for the users.” His awakening fuels the film’s emotional journey and philosophical weight.
Two Worlds, One Battle
Tron: Ares introduces two versions of the Grid—Dillinger’s dark and militarized network, and the ECOM Grid, which reflects the evolution of the one seen in Legacy. The film moves fluidly between these realms and the real world, delivering some of the best CGI and digital world-building the series has ever seen.
While Tron: Legacy remains the visual benchmark for practical set design and atmosphere, Ares amplifies the spectacle. Battles spill out from the Grid into city streets, blurring lines between physical and digital space. Whether viewed on IMAX or standard format, the visuals are breathtaking, filled with callbacks to classic designs while introducing fresh, modernized ones.
Heroes, Villains, and Legacy
Although the original Tron doesn’t appear, Ares serves as his spiritual successor—both figuratively and literally. The essence of what made Tron a hero continues through Ares’s choices.
Jeff Bridges makes a powerful and emotional return as Kevin Flynn, providing mentorship and wisdom in the film’s most moving sequences. His scenes with Ares carry a profound humanity, grounding the film’s spectacle in heartfelt meaning.
Among the new faces, Jodie Turner-Smith delivers a standout performance as Athena, the film’s digital antagonist and Ares’s mirror image within Dillinger’s system. Her relentless pursuit recalls the iconic T-1000 from Terminator 2, embodying the unstoppable nature of a program bound by code. Gillian Anderson also impresses as Elisabeth Dillinger, Julian’s mother—a morally conflicted character torn between legacy and conscience.
Sound and Spectacle
If Daft Punk defined Tron: Legacy, Nine Inch Nails redefine Tron: Ares. Their electrifying score pulses with industrial emotion, pushing the tension and atmosphere to new heights. In IMAX, the combination of NIN’s soundscape and Rønning’s sweeping visuals transforms Ares into an immersive audiovisual experience.
Director Joachim Rønning (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) crafts a visually ambitious and emotionally resonant story that expands the mythology of the Grid while introducing new layers of TRON lore.
With Tron: Ares, Disney reignites its most ambitious sci-fi saga, balancing nostalgia with innovation. It honors what came before while forging a path toward new stories, new heroes, and new possibilities in the ever-expanding world of the Grid.
At its heart, Tron: Ares is about creation, evolution, and connection—between humans, programs, and the technology that binds them. As long as science continues to edge closer to fiction, there will be more TRON stories to tell.
The action sequences and the missions that our A.I. characters go on to complete their mission are were the CGI shines. Watching Ares in a premium format is the way to go. Ares came to life in IMAX as big as his character does on the big screen. All the action and special effects in IMAX bring the story to life in Tron: Ares. The way that director Joachim Rønning tells this original story and introduces new elements of TRON lore is a welcome sight to not only see but appreciate as the world building goes even further in this film.
What has come before, is brought to the center of the story of Tron: Ares as well as who came before. While the character of TRON is not featured in the film, Ares is a spiritual successor literally and figuratively to Tron in Tron: Ares. Tron may not have returned but his inevitable journey of entering our real world is fulfilled by Ares. Jared Leto plays Ares as soul searcher from the films midpoint onward and the only one who has an answer for such a search is the ultimate hero of the GRID Kevin Flynn. Jeff Bridges was expected to return for this sequel and his time on screen is welcomed and just what news fans and life-long fans need. The creator and life giver and the hero of the storied Tron series. As the most important character of the series, the version of Flynn we see in the film helps Ares start his journey as hero and to fulfill his destiny. All the while, while the battle between two companies rages between good and evil between two CEOs, the hero and the heart of the TRON story sets this movie’s hero on his hero’s journey. The climax of this film and Ares journey falls on wether the scenes between Kevin Flynn and Ares work and they do and they are arguably the most “human” and heartfelt part of the flim.
