Tron has always been ahead of the curve. That’s by design – if you’re presenting the story of a mega-advanced virtual world, you need to be at the c
Tron has always been ahead of the curve. That’s by design – if you’re presenting the story of a mega-advanced virtual world, you need to be at the cutting edge. The 1982 original was exactly that, pioneering visual effects in service of a tale that predated the rise of… well, everything that’s come since. Tron: Legacy took that to the next level in 2010, taking a quantum leap in its conception of ‘The Grid’ with wild neon visuals, and delivering one of the first legacy sequels (hey, it’s in the title) long before Hollywood got hooked on them. Now, here comes Tron: Ares – a whole fresh evolution, set to propel audiences into a future they don’t realise they’re already hurtling towards.
A fresh Tron means another gigantic step forward in creating the film’s digital world. ILM is treating the process of working on Ares like it’s “the Holy Grail of computer graphics”, director Joachim Rønning tells Empire. Even in a saturated blockbuster landscape, he promises things audiences have never seen before, set to “elevate” the world and take it “to the next level” – including motion-controlled camera movements on The Grid, designed as if the lens is operated by machine rather than man. “The concept was that a program is filming a program,” he explains. “So it’s shot by a robot.”
For original Tron creator Steven Lisberger, this kind of innovation is the name of the game. “Something comes out, and it’s too avant-garde at the time. And then the real world catches up with it,” he says, reflecting on the saga’s legacy. Now, in Ares, the world of Tron will collide with our reality – bringing Light Cycles to city streets where they slice cars in half. “It has become a symbol of our riding this technology that is going faster than we ever imagined,” Lisberger says of Tron’s most iconic visual. “We’ve integrated into it, and the speed of it is mind-boggling. And in Ares, it’s a metaphor for the fact that this technology is moving through every part of our reality.”
Ares is arriving right on time, then. With each passing day, artificial intelligence is encroaching on our everyday lives. “The movie touches all of these things,” says Past Lives’ Greta Lee, who plays programmer Eve Kim. “So many days on set, we would get the chills, because the ideas that [Lisberger] put in place years ago are not just still relevant, but in our faces. Inescapable.” There’s never been a better time for Tron to return.
Read Empire’s full Tron: Ares cover feature – going on set to get the low-down on the Grid’s glorious return from director Joachim Rønning and his cast – in the August 2025 issue, on sale Thursday 3 July. Pre-order a copy online here. Tron: Ares comes to UK cinemas from 10 October.
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