It was only a couple of days ago that we reported on the story details for Tron Ascension, the cryogenically frozen sequel to Tron Legacy. While we're not here to tell you that the project is miraculously back on track for production, we can tell you that its lead to a potential new project that would keep the universe alive. Even better, Disney is courting Academy Award actor / Joker of the moment Jared Leto as the film's lead. Yeah, we've got some questions about all of this too, so let's talk it out.
The news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter, who have stated that while this project is in the exploratory phases with no talent attached, Leto is the first name to come up in these early days. This project is being stressed as not being a direct sequel to Tron Legacy, but apparently a "reboot" stemming from a character taken from the Tron Ascension script. If cast, Jared Leto would be playing a character called Ares, whom we know nothing about. But with the few details we do have on hand, we can begin to theorize just what this news means.
It's hard to think that Disney would completely reboot the Tron franchise, especially since the IP is still beloved by a wide swath of fans. Potentially this new Tron project could honor the memory of the first two films, but exist outside of the storyline proper for the time being. If Disney's looking to potentially groom this property for a long term universe, it's best to start out with as little baggage as possible. This is theory on our end, but with the lack of detail as well, as the loose usage of the term "reboot", we still think there might be a chance that Tron Ascension could theoretically still be part of the picture.
Since Ares is listed as a "key player" in _Tron Ascension'_s script, this new story could develop the character for future films, while weaving in some of the threads that Tron Legacy didn't use to their fullest potential. We're looking at you, Dillinger family. With some fresh narrative data circulating through the Tron universe, a successful side story would be perfect justification to revive the dormant sequel somewhere in the future, bringing everyone back to the Grid proper. Basically, think of a movie that works along the same lines as the animated TV series, Tron Uprising, which saw new characters affected by Clu's evil regime in a time period before Tron Legacy.
For now, all we have is a tenuous hope that Tron will be back on the big screen at some point in the future. How, or whether Jared Leto commits to another long term property, is still to be seen. But for now, we're thinking positively, and as soon as new details come to light, we'll report back with the good, or bad, news.
