Jared Leto's TRON Sequel Reportedly Moving Forward at Disney With Director in Negotiations

After years of rumors, reports, and updates, a third TRON film, TRON: Ares, is reportedly finally moving forward, with Deadline reporting that director Joachim Rønning (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) is in early negotiations to helm the picture. Not only is the director seemingly close to a deal with Disney, the outlet also reports that the project could begin shooting this summer. Jared Leto is still involved in the project, as he has been the only name attached to the project for years. Leto recently collaborated with Disney for their new take on The Haunted Mansion. Stay tuned for more details on TRON: Ares.

The franchise kicked off in 1982 with a Jeff Bridges-starring picture that pushed the limits of special effects at the time. In 2010, TRON: Legacy brought back Bridges, with director Joseph Kosinski breathing new life into the franchise and attempting to similarly push the limits of special effects and 3D technology. Sadly, the film failed to resonate with audiences as strongly as other big-budget franchises at the time, resulting in somewhat underwhelming numbers at the box office. 

Director Kosinski previously explained how Disney's focus on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars was what caused them to drag their feet on investing in the TRON franchise. 

"I got so close. I really tried. I got close in 2015, and Disney pulled the plug on it," Kosinski shared with Vulture back in June. "I hadn't built anything, but I had the whole movie storyboarded and written. I was really excited because it was inverting the idea: It was all that stuff coming into our world, and it was about the blending of the two."

He added, "It was a different Disney by 2015. When I made TRON: Legacy, they didn't own Marvel; they didn't own Star Wars. We were the play for fantasy and science fiction. And once you've got those other things under your umbrella, it makes sense that you're going to put your money into a known property and not the weird art student with black fingernails in the corner -- that was TRON."

Last year saw Kosinski delivering audiences Top Gun: Maverick, which was a major hit with both audiences and critics alike. Whatever the future holds for TRON, the filmmaker expressed in honor of Legacy's 10th anniversary what the franchise needs to embrace to stay alive.

"Whenever a TRON comes out, it needs to push the envelope in some way, or in every way," the filmmaker shared with ComicBook.com. "That's a fundamental requirement of a TRON movie, is it needs to be ambitious on a filmmaking level and hopefully on a narrative level, and the ideas behind it. [Director] Steven Lisberger's ideas for the first movie were so ahead of their time. I think it's imperative that that be a part of any TRON movie. I don't ever see TRON being something where you pump one out every two years. You just can't. They're too hard to make. It's got to be a passion project and it's got to really be reaching for something different and innovative and ambitious, because that's in the DNA of it."  

Stay tuned for details on TRON: Ares.

Are you looking forward to a sequel moving forward? Let us know in the comments!