Why Jeff Bridges Is The Only Tron: Legacy Actor In Disney's Tron: Ares

"Tron" has never been one of Disney's biggest franchises, but it does hold the distinction of being one of the most visually distinct. Steven Lisberger's '80s sci-fi adventure brought the computer world known as the Grid to life through groundbreaking developments in the field of computer-generated imagery. It's still an eye-popping visual experience, albeit noticeably lapped by today's standards. Joseph Kosinski ("Top Gun: Maverick") managed to (mostly) push the developments in CGI even further with "Tron: Legacy," which gave the Grid a Daft Punk-infused upgrade. It's bio-digital jazz, man. With the series largely having lain dormant for the past decade and a half, the time to return to the Grid has come with the upcoming "Tron: Ares." The key difference with this latest installment is that rather than revisiting the namesake's digital world, it's coming to ours.

So much time has passed in both reality and the world of "Tron" that there's so much potential in seeing where everything has ended up after the seemingly hopeful conclusion of "Legacy." There's also the matter of "Ares" being audibly coated in a banger soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails. It should be a momentous occasion, but the Jared Leto of it all feels like a cold splash of water thrown onto the mainframe. Here, he plays the subtitular character Ares, a living AI program retrofitted to be an ENCOM soldier who can be revived if killed in battle. It sure sounds like something this company would do.

Leto's involvement as the de facto main character is a real shake-up to "Tron," as the previous films were led by protagonists from within the Flynn family. Kevin (Jeff Bridges) was a software engineer engulfed by his own digital creation, while Sam (Garrett Hedlund) became the ultimate successor. There are plenty of characters in "Legacy," such as Olivia Wilde's Quorra and Cillian Murphy's Edward Dillinger Jr., but Bridges will be the only returning cast member. In a 2025 interview with SFX Magazine, "Ares" director Joachim Rønning ("Maleficent: Mistress of Evil") talked about how the lack of "Tron" alum was a result of thinking about what's best for the film at hand:

"These things are not only creative choices; sometimes actors don't want to be in it anymore [...] There are different ways of looking at that, but I think the story fell into a place where we get that we didn't need the old characters to be front and centre. We wanted to take this into a new direction while, at the same time, honouring the universe that we're in."

When we examine the world "Ares" has presented in its marketing materials, it appears that significant strides have been made with ENCOM and their retooling of the Grid. It makes you wonder what the Flynns have to say about all this. At the end of "Legacy," Sam is prepping himself to finally take control of ENCOM away from its batch of greedy shareholders. Bruce Boxleitner's Alan Bradley is named Chairman of the Board, while Olivia Wilde's Quorra is seen riding off into the sunset with Sam. Bridge's presence is odd in large part because Kevin was last seen exploding (and supposedly dying) within the Grid after integrating with CLU. His mysterious appearance in the trailers for "Ares" has been minimal, which gives the impression he'll likely be a small but important part.

"Ares" producer Justin Springer talks about the decision not to include characters like Quorra and Alan, which is refreshingly a result of not wanting to stuff the new movie with cameos for the sake of it (via SFX Magazine):

"We're telling a story that's 14 years later, and the most important thing is that we tell this story in a way that works [...] To just throw cameos in, where it's a parade of people that we love from the franchise, I just feel like it's fan service that doesn't serve the story. But we are definitely focused on ways to surprise the audience."

Springer's comments indicate that Bridge's presence will factor into the story in a meaningful way. There's already so much to do with new characters played by Greta Lee, Gillian Anderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Evan Peters that the Flynns weirdly don't seem like much of a priority. It does seem weird, however, that the closest thing this virtual reality realm has to a living God is a supporting character. With that said, I'm all for "Tron" breaking free from the constraints of their own Skywalkers. Hedlund's absence is the most head-scratching, but while I'm sure they'll explain it, you only need to look around to wonder why a tech company CEO with the drive to share its resources with the people for a better future would be forced out, leading up to the 2020s.

It's just a shame that Leto has to be the series' literal poster boy.

"TRON: Ares" is set to hit theaters nationwide on October 10, 2025.