Development Original concept Development of a sequel to
Tron: Legacy was announced in October 2010 by franchise creator
Steven Lisberger, with
Legacy screenwriters
Edward Kitsis and
Adam Horowitz set to return. In April 2011, director
Joseph Kosinski stated the script was still in development, and confirmed that the story would continue from
Tron: Legacy. He stated that the relationship of the characters of
Garrett Hedlund's
Sam Flynn and
Olivia Wilde's
Quorra would be "the next step", with the plot following their adventures in the real world. On March 31, 2011, Kosinski said that the film's script was expected to be finished in two weeks and its working title was
TR3N. In June, it was reported that screenwriter David DiGilio was hired to write the screenplay, as Kitsis and Horowitz had dropped out to develop their television series
Once Upon a Time. In March 2012,
Bruce Boxleitner stated he believed filming could potentially begin as early as 2014, after Kosinski was available following his commitments to the film
Oblivion. In June, Kitsis and Horowitz stated that they were still involved with the project, though by December, Jesse Wigutow had been hired to rewrite the script. That same month, Boxleitner and Hedlund were confirmed to be returning for the sequel. In March 2015, it was revealed that Disney had officially greenlit the third film with Hedlund, Kosinski and Wilde set to return, and production due to begin in October in
Vancouver. In May, it was announced that Disney had scrapped the film, Hedlund stated the reason for the cancellation was a result of the box office failure of
Tomorrowland. In July, Boxleitner announced the cancellation of the film had ended his interest in returning to the franchise. In September, Hedlund stated he was told that the sequel was not "totally dead", and would be interested in returning should a new film be announced. In August 2016,
Brigham Taylor, then a development executive at Disney, revealed discussions were being had about
Tron future. In 2017, Kosinski stated that the sequel was in more of a "cryogenic freeze" as opposed to completely cancelled. He attributed Disney's then-recent acquisition of
Lucasfilm and
Marvel as reasons for
Tron being put on the backburner. According to producer Justin Springer, the title for the abandoned sequel was
Tron: Ascension.
Redevelopment as Ares In March 2017, it was reported the franchise would be moving towards a reboot instead of a
Legacy sequel, with Jared Leto attached to produce and portray a new character named Ares that was retained from prior iterations of the
Ascension script. The seeds of the film was traced to a conversation between Springer and Lisberger during development of
Legacy about how the latter came up with the original film, that being how there was an obsession with a first encounter with aliens in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he lived around the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), leading him to wonder what if intelligent life didn't come from outer space but from inside a machine created by people yet not controlled by them. The
Ascension script was abandoned, but the filmmakers made a conscious decision to develop some of the
Ares story from that version, particularly its core concept due to their idea that it remained relevant. They said that since the release of
Legacy, the concept of
Ares and its retention of older ideas had become more relevant with each year until its release instead of becoming more dated. In August 2020,
Garth Davis was hired to direct the film, with Wigutow still attached to write the screenplay.
Patrice Vermette at the time had been hired as production designer. In March 2022, Leto confirmed that the film was still happening. By January 2023, Davis had exited as director, with
Joachim Rønning entering negotiations to take the directing job.
Cameron Monaghan and
Sarah Desjardins would be added the following month. In January 2024,
Gillian Anderson joined the cast in an undisclosed role.
Legacy has teasers, but Rønning confirmed in September 2025 that
Jeff Bridges would be the only returning actor from previous films, reprising his role as Kevin Flynn, and he affirmed that neither Hedlund as Sam Flynn or
Cillian Murphy as Ed Dillinger Jr. would return from
Legacy, both due to creative choices and a lack of interest from the actors' part. Springer also said that "throwing"
cameo appearances in like a "parade of people" felt like
fan service which would not serve the story, so they opted to only bring back characters in a way that reminded the audience of their love for the franchise, but by surprising them in a way that works. The film is not set to address the
cliffhanger ending of
Legacy or the fates of Sam and Quorra, but Springer affirmed that it does not contradict that ending and that
Legacy remains
canon. Bit is still present in the final film, portrayed identically to the original Tron, as an object able to speak only "yes" or "no", representing the maximum two states a binary bit of information can hold.
Filming Principal photography was scheduled to begin in
Vancouver on August 14, 2023, but was postponed indefinitely due to the
2023 Writers Guild of America and the
2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Following the conclusion of the strikes in early November 2023, filming was reportedly set to begin in early 2024. In November 2023, it was announced that production on the project would officially begin following the holiday season of the same year. In January 2024, Rønning revealed production had begun, under the
working title Velcro.
Jeff Cronenweth serves as cinematographer. A first look image was released by Disney in February, with
Hasan Minhaj and
Arturo Castro added to the cast. Production occurred on the
Cambie Bridge overnight on March 15. In April,
Jeff Bridges, who portrayed Kevin Flynn and
Clu in the previous
Tron films, confirmed his involvement in the film. Filming
wrapped on May 1. Jesse Wigutow received sole credit for the film's screenplay, along with a story credit with David Digilio. Off-screen additional literary material credits were attributed to
Jez Butterworth,
Brian Duffield,
Justin Haythe,
Nicole Holofcener,
Tom McCarthy,
Megan McDonnell,
Jack Thorne,
Billy Ray, and
Legacy screenwriters Horowitz and Kitsis.
Post-production Tyler Nelson serves as the editor. The film's
visual effects were provided by
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Distillery VFX,
Image Engine,
Lola VFX, GMUNK, OPSIS and Imaginary Forces, with David Seager serving as the film's visual effects supervisor. ==Music==