How TRON:ARES became Jared Leto’s personal mission to keep the network alive

When Disney announced Tron: Aresfans were surprised that the sci-fi franchise was given another chance on the big screen. 15 years had passed since then Tron: Legacyand although the sequel builds on the mythology of the original, Ares it seemed to reboot everything with a new cast, a new creative team, and a new protagonist Jared Leto.

The absence of returning characters, apart from a brief Jeff Bridges cameo, left many wondering what Disney’s plan was. Now that Ares came out and struggled to find a place at the box office, those questions have only gotten louder.

Well, it turns out that Tron: Ares it wouldn’t exist at all if it weren’t for Leto.

After Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinskithe planned sequel, Tron: Ascensionit was rejected by Disney, the project was almost dead. That previous version was intended to continue the Flynn family saga with a large-scale “multi-narrative” story.

Jesse Wigutowwho also wrote Ares, recalled that Ascension was “a great sequel to Legacy” and would reunite the main characters from both previous films. One of these new additions was a mysterious program called Ares, a role that had already been assigned to Leto.

When Disney pulled the plug AscensionLeto refused to let his connection to the Grid fade. A whole life Tron fans, the actor saw something special in Ares and wasn’t about to let the idea disappear into a black hole of abandoned projects.

At a recent press event attended by Polygon, Leto shared how much the franchise meant to him:

“I fell in love with the first film, I saw it at the cinema as a kid. It changed my life, it showed me creativity and technology in a way I never imagined… For me, [it’s] one of the biggest sci-fi franchises and I’m really proud to be a part of it.

That lifelong connection fueled a decades-long push to carry on Tron come back to life. Leto and his producing partner Emma Ludbrook he approached Wigutow again, this time with a different idea… instead of resurrecting the old story, they would rebuild it around the character of Ares himself.

Wigutow explained how it all came together:

“[Leto] he finally came to me and said, “Let’s build a film around this character.” I want to understand this character, his origins, and I want to take him to a very different place.’

“So that’s really the provenance and the provenance of this specific film is Jared’s dogged persistence to get it done, but also to tell the story of this character specifically.”

From that collaboration a new vision was born, which echoes Tron’s characteristic themes of identity, technology and humanity. Wigutow revealed how they redefined Ares’ story:

“From that came a one-page document: What if this character was the bad guy, but […] then it has a change. He finds elements of humanity that change his programming and make him want to live like one of us. And what came out of it is what you see.”

That concept of a self-aware program that discovers empathy drives Tron: Ares and ties it back to the philosophical roots of the franchise. While it doesn’t continue the Flynn family saga, the film honors Tron’s past in clever ways, including sequences where Ares ventures into the original 1982 Grid, complete with a vintage Lightcycle and the return of classic elements like Bit and Flynn.

As a producer, Leto’s persistence has carried the day Tron return to the big screen when no one else could. As an artist, however, his portrayal of Ares divided audiences.

His passion for the franchise is definitely strange, but some critics argue that his performance seems too restrained to capture the emotional spark the story requires.

Yet, without passion and tenacity, Tron: Ares it simply wouldn’t exist. The film is proof that sometimes, keeping a science fiction dream alive requires a fan with enough obsession and influence to bend reality to their will.

It’s a shame that the movie didn’t do well at the box office because it’s actually a really interesting movie.