A brand-new trailer for Tron: Ares was released by Disney this week to tease the long-awaited threequel. The film had a long, and sometimes bumpy, journey to the big screen, but is set to release later this year,15 years after Tron: Legacy. Although the Jared Leto-led film isn’t a direct sequel to that film, it is still connected to both Tron and Tron: Legacy, and the latest trailer does a fantastic job of highlighting the narrative through line running between the latest Tron film and its predecessors. In fact, it feels like it shows rather a lot more old footage than new.

The new Tron: Ares trailer starts with a callback to the original film as Flynn’s Arcade comes into view, first introduced in 1982’s Tron. The trailer continues with footage from the first movie as we see a crowd gathering around the Tron arcade game as Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn plays the game. The footage then cuts away to the Walt Disney Studios logo, before changing its focus to The Grid, the digital frontier first introduced in Tron. The trailer goes on to show Flynn being pulled inside of The Grid, as seen in the first movie, then cuts to footage from 2010’s Tron: Legacy.

The trailer smartly uses footage from both films to transition into footage from Tron: Ares, with Bridges noting that one day, the world of The Grid will ultimately bleed into our world. Moving away from its focus on Flynn, the trailer turns its focus to Evan Peters’ Julian Dillinger, the son of Edward Dillinger, Jr., who we last saw in Tron: Legacy. Dillinger begins talking about AI and virtual worlds, and what they’ll look like, and how we’ll get to visit one before noting that rather than us going to the virtual worlds, they’ll soon be coming to our world.

Can Tron: Ares Succeed on Its Own?

Interestingly, while Jared Leto is the star of Tron Ares, and Jeff Bridges is a small part of the cast, it appears Disney’s marketing is heavily leaning into Bridges being a part of the film. Although Leto has been the primary focus of the marketing for Tron: Ares thus far, this latest trailer is fully centered on Bridges and his return as Flynn. While the legendary actor was a huge part of the past two films, with the second movie having centered on his son, it’s unclear how much he’ll actually appear in Tron: Ares. After all, Tron: Ares is not a direct sequel to its predecessors, but a new installment in the long-running franchise that just so happens to be connected to its previous films.

Given the less-than-stellar reception Leto has received in recent years, mainly due to his method acting that caused quite the stir during his portrayal of the Joker in Suicide Squad, moving the focus away from him could be smart. Still, in a film where he’s the leading man, it does seem strange to try to switch the focus to Bridges so late in the film’s marketing campaign. After all, it’s now one month out from the movie’s release. Teasing Flynn in a new trailer titled Flynn Lives could ultimately confuse fans. The film should be able to pull in audiences based on its name and visuals alone, rather than trying to use Flynn as the marketing point.

Either way, fans can finally see Jared Leto and the return of Jeff Bridges as Flynn when Tron: Ares hits theaters on October 10, 2025.