Tron: Ares Adds Gillian Anderson to Cast

Gillian Anderson is joining the cast of Disney's Tron: Ares. The much-talked-about third movie in the Tron franchise has been making news for the past couple of months, most notably when Tron: Ares picked up filming after the holidays. This was good news for Tron fans when you consider production was shut down due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes. Director Joachim Rønning is helming Tron: Ares, which is headlined by Jared Leto, who most recently played the vampire anti-hero Morbius in the Sony/Marvel superhero flick. Now, the third Tron film is adding former The X-Files alum Gillian Anderson, according to Deadline.

Gillian Anderson made the jump from X-Files over to Netflix for two popular series, The Crown and Sex Education. Both shows wrapped up their runs on Netflix last year, with Gillian Anderson playing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Crown, and sex therapist Jean Milburn in Sex Education. At this time it's unknown what character Anderson is portraying in Tron: Ares, but that follows the pattern of the movie keeping its secrets under wraps. All we really know is that Jared Leto is playing the titular character. 1982's Tron starred Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, the creator of the virtual world, with 2010's Tron: Legacy adding Garrett Hedlund as Kevin's son, Sam Flynn.

Who stars in Tron: Ares?

Directed by Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil), Tron: Ares stars Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith, Cameron Monaghan, and and Sarah Desjardins.

Before the actors' and writers' strikes, Disney brought Tron creator Steven Lisberger on aboard to lend a hand with the third entry. The Hollywood Reporter interviewed the creative ahead of TRON: Ares. While he had a ton of ideas for the sequel, he decided to rein it in a bit to make the story more accessible.

"The Tron team is hard at work," Lisberger said. "They are always hard at work. It's going to happen. My goal with these things in playing the Obi-Wan role is to say the one sentence that has an impact. I try to say something that is useful to them without getting into the weeds."

"We shot a storyboard movie on Tron 1. One of Disney's Nine Old Men was still out at the studio. I was so excited to show it to him because lord knows I could have used a mentor at that point. I showed him our storyboard movie. He sat there, he watched the whole thing, and then he turned to me and said, 'Kid — you're on your own.' And got up and walked out of the room," Lisberger added as he gestured towards some of the newcomers on the team. "So I'm trying to keep my input down to sentences but hopefully sentences that are some use to them."

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