Is Tron: Ares a sequel to Tron Legacy? Details explained

Fans believe that Tron: Ares is not a sequel to Tron Legacy, and there are enough reasons to believe the same. Fans are convinced that the upcoming movie is a reboot and not a sequel. One of the primary reasons is that none of the actors from the original Tron Legacy movie will be returning for the 2025 release. Besides the actors themselves, the characters from the previous movie are also not making a return.

Tron: Ares has an all-new cast, led by Jared Leto as Ares. Among others confirmed to be a part of the upcoming movie are Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Greta Lee, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson, Sarah Desjardins, Arturo Castro, and Hasan Minhaj.

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Is Tron: Ares a sequel or a reboot to Tron Legacy?

Fans have been led to believe that Tron: Ares is a reboot and not a sequel. News of Tron Legacy receiving a sequel started making the rounds back in October 2010. The announcement for the same was made by the movie's producer, Steven Lisberger. The new film was expected to be the third film in the Tron franchise. Screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz were also scheduled to return.

However, since the announcement, the movie has had to go through several hurdles before principal photography can begin. The movie went through several changes in terms of the writers, directors, and actors. At some point, the movie was also shelved, much to the disappointment of the fans.

After a lot of back and forth, in early 2023, Joachim Rønning was finally zeroed in to helm the upcoming project. Following a huge delay, principal photography and production for Tron: Ares finally began under the working title of Velcro.

As the days passed, more details from the set of the upcoming movie started making the rounds. This included details about the cast of Tron: Ares, which is completely different from Tron Legacy. No details concerning the premise of the upcoming movie were revealed. All these aspects combined led fans of the franchise to believe that the upcoming movie is set to be a reboot rather than a sequel.

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Was Tron Legacy a good movie?

Despite being a huge commercial success, Tron Legacy did not score well among critics and audiences. The movie's poor ratings on Rotten Tomatoes are a testament to that. The December 2010 release has a collective rating of 51% on the Tomatometer by the critics. The ratings are contested by the audiences that gave it a 63% rating.

Brian Eggert, a renowned critic at Deep Focus Review, writes:

"Almost three decades in the making, TRON: Legacy arrives and forces viewers to wonder why it took so long to render such an unremarkable film."

Bruce Diones from the New Yorker did not shy away from slamming the makers of the movie and said:

"Disney may be looking for a merchandising bonanza with this long-gestating sequel to the groundbreaking 1982 film, but someone in the corporate offices forgot to add any human interest to its action-heavy script."

The audiences' voices on the platform were not too different from those of the critics. A user wrote:

"I was never into the original, so this kind of felt out of my element. The acting was pretty good and the effects were good. The original was ahead of it’s time but this feels a bit behind now."

With that being said, Tron Legacy does have a niche audience, some of whom loved the movie. A user wrote:

"Tron: Legacy is awesomeness at the next level! in a film that continues the legacy of the original while also providing a perfect example of how far CGI technology has come between then and now."

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The tentative year for the release of Tron: Ares is set for 2025.