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Joachim Rønning already has plans for Tron 4...and we recommend sticking around for the post-credits scene in order to find out just what those plans are.
Warning: mild spoilers for Tron: Ares ahead!
"In this day and age, you never know where you will end up. And if we were to be that lucky, if enough people come watch it..." Rønning tells GamesRadar+. "To be able to shoot the scene [where we] bring back Sark... everybody at Industrial Light & Magic was like, 'Oh my God!' It was going back to the original Tron Grid, which is kind of like the holy grail of VFX, even though it was not eligible for a VFX Academy Award in 1982 because they felt it was cheating at the time. And then the other thing was bringing back Sark, even though it's at the very end, it's just like hinting [at] something to come. I think that would be great. I think Julian Dillinger [Evan Peters] – it's a good starting point for that continuation of that character."
Tron: Ares follows Eve Kim (Greta Lee), the current chief executive officer of Kevin Flynn's ENCOM, as she sets out in search of Flynn's coveted permanence code. In the world of Tron, artificial intelligence can only exist outside of the grid for 29 minutes. With the permanence code, that AI can become real... which has the potential to change humanity forever. Over at ENCOM's rival, Dillinger Systems, Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) decides to follow in his evil grandfather's footsteps and develops a military AI named Ares, along with a female counterpart named Athena.
When Julian gets word that Eve has the permanence code, he sends the AI her. Ares, however, goes rogue and ends up trying to protect Eve... because he himself wants to use the code in order to become human. After destroying most of the city and losing his AI creations, Julian decides to run from the police and evade capture by zapping himself into the grid. In the post-credits scene, we see him in an outfit that resembles that of Sark, and the glowing identity disc appears.
"I wish there was like a Tron series, you know, I could deal with a film every year or two," Leto says. "For me, Tron is like a favorite album or band that you listen to. So it has a special place in my heart. And that's kind of a cool thing to be involved with a project that you're also a fan. We're the audience as well. We're passionate about it."
The end of the film also sees Eve changing the world over at ENCOM, while still receiving postcards from Ares, who's traveling around the world. Lee also expressed her excitement for a potential sequel:
"There's so much that we could show, and given what this movie is, it really reflects the world right now," she told GR+. "And I can't even begin to imagine how much will change by the time we get around to the next one. And I can only hope that we'll be able to reflect all of that, whatever that may be. And it's so complicated and dynamic and I can't wait to see what happens."
Rønning directs from a screenplay by Jesse Wigutow. The cast includes Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Sarah Desjardins, Cameron Monaghan, and none other than Jeff Bridges.
Tron: Ares hits theaters on October 10. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond.
