‘Tron Changed My Life’: Exclusive Tron: Ares Look Delves Into Jared Leto’s Decades-Long Fandom For The Franchise

After 15 years, the time has finally come for the Tron franchise to return to the big screen. Tron: Ares premieres on the 2025 movies schedule this weekend, with Jared Leto playing the title program who’s sent on a mission into the real world. Ahead of the upcoming Disney movie’s release, CinemaBlend has an exclusive look at Ares that delves into Leto being a fan of Tron ever since the original movie came out in 1982.

Jared Leto was born in 1971, so Tron came out at a great time to capture his young imagination. As he notes in the featurette, video games were “exploding.” Seeing Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn enter The Grid in a theater resulted in Leto “being transported to a place he never imagined.” So it’s no wonder that he was so passionate to star in Tron: Ares, as he mentions that it’s taken nine years for this movie to get off the ground.

As previously mentioned, the big way Tron: Ares distinguishes itself from its predecessor is by having Ares and other Programs bring transported from their virtual environment into our world. This was only briefly shown at the end of Tron: Legacy when Quorra escaped The Grid with Sam Flynn. But as cool as it is getting to wear one of those light-up suits and “ride” a Lightcycle, Leto was also pleased to get to work with Jeff Bridges, whom he called one of his “heroes.”

It’s still unclear if the Kevin Flynn we’re seeing in Tron: Ares is the real deal who somehow survived Legacy, or if this is a Program that’s modeled itself on Flynn’s appearance. Whatever the answer, it’s great that Leto and Bridges shared screen time, and that the Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman was able lead a franchise he’s thought so highly of since he was a kid. Ares’ cast also includes Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Gillian Anderson and Cameron Monaghan, among others.

Behind the scenes, Joachim Rønning directed off is a script written by Jesse Wigutow, who created the story with David Digilio. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the score as Nine Inch Nails, and they’re also executive producers. Tron: Ares opens in theaters this Friday, October 10. The first two movies, as well as the animated series Tron: Uprising, can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription.