nerd radio

Get ready for the new daily show

TRON Legacy director says third movie talks still going on

April 14th, 2020 by Marc Comments

If there’s one franchise it’s tough being a fan of, it’s TRON.

It all started off well when the first movie came out in 1982 and was something of a fun oddity until in 2010 TRON: Legacy hit screens and was followed by the great animated series TRON: Uprising and the world was loving TRON and a third movie was on the radar with Cillian Murphy set to step into the villain role.

Then Disney released George Clooney movie Tomorrowland in 2015 and, because it tanked, Disney panicked and pulled any movies it no longer considered sure-fire hits and among them was TRON III. This, by the way, is why Disney’s slate is mostly Marvel, Star Wars and reboots now.

The other bad news is that they had cancelled TRON: Uprising because it was rumoured to be going in a similar route as the planned third movie, so not only did we not get the movie, but the animated series never got a satisfactory conclusion.

Then, just a few weeks ago, it was revealed that Disney+ had planned a TRON series an pulled the plug before it even got up and running (here).

So not third movie, an unfinished story and a cancelled TV series.

However, now it seems that TRON is not as entirely dead at Disney as we had feared.

Director of TRON: Legacy Joseph Kosinski – promoting his upcoming Top Gun: Maverick – has said that Disney do want a TRON movie, but it depends on story and if it can push the FX technology like the first two.

“There’s always been an interest since Legacy [for a sequel]. There’s always been talk and murmuring of doing another and continuing the story,” Kosinski said.

“I was in China a few years ago and saw them building the TRON ride in Shanghai, which, apparently, is pretty amazing, I would love to experience that at some point. I think it’s still a nice jewel in the crown of Disney IP and I think there are fans and people petitioning and pushing to continue it inside the halls of Disney. So I think it could happen. Like anything, it just needs the right confluence of … it’s all about timing and the right elements and everything’s got to come together for a movie to happen. I think it’s possible and I think it’s worthy of it.

“I think there’s enough ideas in the franchise, and the fact that it is so unique and nothing else looks or sounds like it, that TRON story,” he goes on.

“There is, I think, a future for the franchise and I hope they keep making them.”

According to the director the third movie was set to be called TRON: Ascension and would have had Murphy return as the villainous Edward Dillinger, Jr (he was briefly seen in TRON: Legacy). He also confirmed the rumour we have heard for sometime that Jared Leto had been keen to appear.

“Whenever a TRON comes out, it needs to push the envelope in some way, or in every way. 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,” he goes on.

“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.”

Personally, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first movie, but I loved Legacy – and Daft Punk’s score – and I thought Uprising was a cracking series and had potential to be a massive part of TRON’s ongoing legacy, so I’m always hopeful that the franchise will pick up again… the news that Disney+ was keen for a series sounded exciting because, to me, TRON lends itself to the long-form storytelling and world-building of a series.

But let’s hope Kosinski is right and somewhere in Disney towers right now, some suits are aware of how passionate the TRON fans are and are figuring it’s worth bringing it back.

What say you all?

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….