TRON: ARES is Partially Connected To Joseph Kosinski's Unproduced TRON: ASCENSION
Director Joachim Rønning is currently in the middle of directing Disney’s third Tron movie, Tron: Ares. But, long before this project got off the ground, Tron: Legacy and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski had his own version of the sequel ready to go, and it was titled Tron: Ascension.
During a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Kosinski was asked about his big directorial debut with Tron: Legacy, and during that conversation, the filmmaker revealed that he met with the director of Tron: Ares and he said that the movie is partially connected to they version of the film he was working on. He explained:
“I do have a little bit [of a connection.] I met with the director of the new film, and know a little bit about the approach, because it is related partially to a version that we call Tron: Ascension. But through a different point of view. So I’m real excited to see what they do with it, and thrilled that Tron’s still alive.”
The story for Tron: Ares is going to focus on the emergence of a sentient program that somehow crosses over into the human world. Leto will take on the role of Ares, which is the manifestation of the Tron program. Jared Leto stars in the movie and is said to be playing a video game programmer and tech CEO in what is described as the leading role.
As for Tron: Ascension, Kosinski previously talked about his version of the story, saying: "What I’m excited about is the concept, which is an invasion movie from inside the machine coming out as opposed to one we’ve usually seen. So we hinted at that at the end of Legacy with Quorra coming out, but the idea for Ascension was a movie that was, the first act was in the real world, the second act was in the world of TRON, or multiple worlds of TRON, and the third act was totally in the real world. And I think that really opens up, blows open the concept of TRON in a way that would be thrilling to see on screen. But there’s also a really interesting character study in Quorra and a 'Stranger in a Strange Land,' trying to figure out where she belongs having lived in the real world for a few years, and where does she fit in."
He went on to explain what Quorra would have been able to do in the real world as the first digital human hybrid: "I don’t see them having superpowers. I don’t see them being able to shoot lasers from their eyes or do what I would consider to be a superhero-type movie. But in her DNA itself, her being the first digital-human hybrid, there’s something in her being that allows objects from inside the Grid to exist in the real world and makes them permanent, so that was the idea. So I think the idea is strong, it’s just a matter of the right time and the right place and the stars aligning as they have to do for movies."
I would’ve loved to have seen that version of the movie get made! It’s such a cool and unique idea! It’ll be interesting to see how this new film is related to that unmade story.