After a series of delays and false starts (or near-misses, however you want to define it), Disney officially nixed Tron 3…but they didn’t take the Tron franchise off the table entirely. Just this week, Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski divulged some details from the third Tron film (titled Ascension) and revealed that the sequel wasn’t totally dead, but in “cryogenic freeze.” According to a new report, Disney is gearing up to return to the world of Tron, with Jared Leto eyeing a lead role in the new project — but it’s not exactly a sequel.
Disney surprised everyone earlier this year that Tron 3, a sequel to the mediocre 2010 Tron: Legacy, was on the fast-track. Stars Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde were set to return, along with original director Joseph Kosinski. And then, just as quickly as the sequel materialized, it disappeared. Disney abruptly canceled the film and everyone was left scratching their heads. Why randomly start developing Tron 3 (a movie that, frankly, few were clamoring for) five years after Tron: Legacy only to cancel it just a few short months later? Well, now Hedlund is saying it might not actually be as dead as you think.
Not long ago, we heard the surprising news that Disney was moving forward with Tron 3 despite Tron Legacy not exactly lighting the world on fire. So, honestly, it shouldn’t be that surprising that Disney has officially pulled the plug on the second sequel to the 1982 semi-classic. Surely the folks who sign the checks looked around, saw all of the Marvel and Star Wars and Pixar movies waiting in the wings, and thought “Why are we spending our money on another Tron movie?”
Tron 3, the sequel to 2010’s Tron: Legacy, was announced earlier this year with a lot of questions. Why?, chiefly among them. Also, would any of the original cast return? It was originally announced that Jeff Bridges would likely not be coming back, but would Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde return? Today, we have some confirmation as Disney has announced that Hedlund and Wilde will reprise their roles from Tron: Legacy, joining director Joseph Kosinski on the upcoming sequel.