Tron: Ares Totally Wants You To Forget About The New Villain Legacy Tried To Set Up

This article contains spoilers for "Tron: Ares."

For years, it seemed that a second sequel to the original 1982 "Tron" may never be made, as "Tron: Legacy" director Joseph Kosinski came close to getting his idea for a sequel off the ground in 2015, only to find Disney cancelling the film at the last minute. In Kosinski's opinion, the studio had recently acquired the "Star Wars" and Marvel franchises, and thus had much less of an interest in pursuing "Tron" when it came to sci-fi/fantasy fare for the multiplex. Despite Kosinski and his cast moving on, "Tron" never completely died out at Disney, with writer Jesse Wigutow eventually getting his script for a third film off the ground. Finally, "Tron: Ares" releases in theaters this weekend.

Of course, this game of musical chairs with the film has left several actors and characters pushed to the sidelines or falling by the wayside. While Jeff Bridges' Kevin Flynn is the only legacy character to appear in "Ares," the movie does make mention of Garrett Hedlund's Sam Flynn and Olivia Wilde's Quorra, hinting that they may make an appearance in a future installment. Then there are the characters who aren't even mentioned, chief among them Alan Bradley, played by Bruce Boxleitner, who also played the titular Tron in the first two films. While a "Tron" movie without Tron seems egregious to the series' fans, a more baffling omission for general audiences is the lack of Cillian Murphy, who briefly appeared in "Legacy" as Ed Dillinger, Jr., the son of the first film's Dillinger, played by David Warner. 

Murphy's Dillinger Jr. was blatantly intended as a setup for a future sequel, and while the Dillinger family is indeed the antagonists of "Ares," Junior is nowhere to be seen or mentioned. Instead, Evan Peters plays Julian, the grandson of Ed. So, while "Ares" doesn't explicitly kill off or retcon Ed Jr., it certainly wants you to forget about him.

Murphy only appears as Ed Dillinger Jr. in one scene during the first half hour of "Tron: Legacy," but the implication of Murphy's presence lingers like a mid-credits reveal. After all, David Warner was the chief villain of the first "Tron," with Warner portraying not just Dillinger Sr. but also the program Sark and the voice of the Master Control Program, the implication being that Dillinger's corporate evil had infected what was built to be a free and open computer system. So all that, along with Dillinger Sr. being the man who literally stole the ENCOM corporation from its rightful founders, helped imply that his son might have some nefarious plans up his sleeve. There's also the fact that Murphy is not known for doing cameos as a lark, too.

Plans for Dillinger Jr.'s role in the originally proposed "Tron 3" were further hinted at on the "Tron: Legacy" special features, which included a new short film entitled "Tron: The Next Day." One of the Easter eggs found within the short's menu showed Dillinger Jr. speaking to a new MCP (voiced by Warner), who he refers to as "Dad." This implies that not only would Murphy return as Dillinger Jr., but so would Warner, with the MCP and Dillinger Sr. playing a role in the next film. Knowing all of this makes some of the choices in "Ares" make more sense, for instead of Dillinger Jr. and his father, we get Julian and his mother, Dillinger's daughter Elisabeth (Gillian Anderson).

In the mid-credits scene of "Ares," Julian is transported to the Dillinger Systems grid, whereupon he encounters a disc that appears to transform him into a version of Sark. Obviously, the family rivalry between the Dillingers and the Flynns was always intended to be a major pillar of "Tron 3," which only makes it stranger that a Flynn isn't a main character in the film. "Ares" changes this Shakespearean plot into a more professional rivalry between Dillinger Systems and ENCOM, which isn't as emotionally resonant for a second sequel. Apparently, Murphy's Dillinger Jr. was intended to be included in "Ares," according to some early character breakdowns, but this obviously changed.

Although "Tron: Ares" effectively rewrites what was likely originally intended to be Ed Dillinger Jr.'s story in a third "Tron" movie, it doesn't recast or retcon the character away. While Junior is never mentioned in the movie, his absence allows for the possibility of Murphy returning in a future installment. Given how involved Julian and Elisabeth are in "Ares," Junior's absence doesn't leave a huge hole, but it does raise a number of questions. Do Junior's whereabouts have anything to do with the mysterious location of Sam and Quorra? Also, a major theme of "Ares" involves new ENCOM COO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) discovering that her late sister was secretly off finding Flynn's Permanence Code, so there is some precedent for secret missions. There's also the fact that Junior was an employee of ENCOM when we last saw him; maybe the twist is that he isn't growing up to follow in his father's footsteps, and is actually fighting for the Users, so to speak?

A more compelling question when it comes to theorizing about Junior's return is whether "The Next Day" is still canon. Sure, the series could pretty easily ignore it, as it's just a DVD supplement. Yet Junior being secretly off somewhere, finding a way to resurrect his father makes a nice parallel with the plot of "Legacy," and it's also resonant with the arc of Eve and the AI version of her sister, Tess (Selene Yun). If this were true, it could also set up a neat family rivalry within the Dillinger dynasty, as a Sark-ified Julian could go up against his uncle and grandfather for control of the Grid. 

Or maybe the reveal could be that Dillinger Sr. is the ultimate ghost in the machine, an anti-Flynn who seeks to overwrite the code of everything in the system, starting with his own family. In any case, we need look no further than "Ares" itself, bringing back Kevin Flynn from digital oblivion to realize that there's a myriad number of ways that Murphy's Dillinger Jr. could return to "Tron." Unless there's another decade and change between films, I'd be willing to bet that the Tron-verse isn't done with Ed Dillinger Jr. yet.