There seems to be some serious movement towards another sequel in the Tron franchise.
The original Tron was released in 1982, telling the story of Kevin Flynn (jeff Bridges) who finds his consciousness sucked into a computer system and electronic world in which he he has to help the titular rebel (Bruce Boxlietner) escape the machinations of the evil ‘mainframe’ (a mirror to Flynn’s duplicitous boss played by David Warner). It was a breakout hit with key sequences such as the light-cycle race becoming a cult sensation and spawning various tie-in computer games. After revived attempts to recapture the magic in another computer game during the 1990s, it seemed the concept was consigned to a cinematic historical marker. However Tron Legacy arrived on the big-screen in 2010 with Garrett Hedlund (as Flynn’s son, Sam) and Olivia Wilde in fine pixel form as Quorra, with Jeff Bridges returning in a supporting capacity. It brought a Daft Punk soundtrack and stunning digital-age imagery to a story that might had been stare-of-the-art in the original, but now look ironically dated. It was a medium-success – reviewers raving about the visuals and less about the story.
We now know that though the third film in the franchise hasn’t been officially given the go-ahead, there has been some active development in the production behind the scenes. At this point it looks as if Garth Davis, the director of 2016’s Lion (starring Dev Patel) is aboard to helm the film with Jared Leto playing a lead role. Little is known of the story concept and there seems to be differing views as to whether this will be a continuation or an all-out reboot. There are no details about whether any of the previous stars will return in any capacity.
Leto did post a tweet this week confirming his involvement, initially referring to the film’s title as Tron: Ares though he quickly removed the suffix, so this may or may not be accidental confirmation of its working title. (Ares was the Greek god of war, the brother of Athena so it is possible that the avatars could reflect such designations).
