Everything we know about Tron: Ares

By Joe Allen Published September 21, 2025

Although it has never been a Star Wars-level franchise, Tron has long been one of the franchises that was known for its devoted following. The first movie was released all the way back in 1982, and Tron: Legacy hit decades later, in 2010.

Now, Tron: Ares is set to be the third entry in this franchise, although it was a long time coming. The movie went through several iterations before finally arriving in theaters. Now, here’s everything we know about the upcoming movie.

Tron: Ares is set to hit theaters on October 10, 2025, and it’s part of Disney’s blitz of theatrical releases to end the year, which also include Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash. The movie is likely to hit Disney Plus and other VOD formats sometime in early 2026, although an exact release date has not been announced there.

There’s still plenty we don’t know about Tron: Ares, and it seems the marketing for the film has been intentional in leaving things at least a little vague. The official synopsis for the movie explains: “Tron: Ares follows a highly sophisticated program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.”

It seems, then, like this installment in the franchise will follow a digital being who enters the real world instead of the opposite, which is what both the original movie and its sequel were about.

We also know that Jared Leto is set to play the titular Ares, a highly advanced program who enters the real world looking for something. Jeff Bridges is also set to return as Jeff Bridges, although it’s unclear how significant his role will be, especially considering that he appeared to die in Legacy. It also seems like this movie will be splitting its time between the real and digital worlds, which is a major shift for a franchise that has spent much more time in the grid than in reality.

The cast for Tron: Ares is led by Leto and Bridges, but also includes plenty of other well-known actors. Here’s a full rundown:

Although many of the details of the movie’s plot are still vague, we do have a number of trailers that give us clues about how Ares will bring us back into the world of Tron. The first gives us a brief look at the grid, but also gives us a peak at how it invades the real world, as well as some shots of onlookers acting pretty bewildered. Not much in the way of plot.

The second trailer gave us a heavier dose of plot, explaining that the Dillingers are looking to create and control digital warriors brought into our world – and also gives us a peak at Bridges’ return as well as a look at some of the (admittedly impressive) action beats in the movie.

In September of 2025, two additional trailers also debuted that spotlighted Leto’s Ares and Bridges’ return as Flynn respectively.