With solely 4 months to go till Tron: Ares premieres on the 2025 films schedule, there’s nonetheless fairly a bit we don’t know in regards to the long-awaited follow-up to Tron: Legacy. This ranges from the thriller of how Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn remains to be alive, to understanding… nicely, actually something about Jared Leto’s Ares. However one factor that we all know now could be that The Acolyte’s Jodie Turner-Smith is enjoying a villain within the upcoming Disney film, and she or he opened up about this expertise, together with just a little approach she went rogue with director Joachim Rønning.
Turner-Smith’s antagonistic flip in Ares comes a yr after she starred as Mom Aniseya within the swiftly-cancelled Star Wars TV collection. Her character, Athena, is Ares’ second-in-command, so she’ll be becoming a member of him as he travels from The Grid to the actual world. Right here’s how the actress described Athena to Empire:
She is hardcore and fierce and robust and constant. It’s actually enjoyable to play any person who’s simply completely uncompromising and openly going about engaging in their targets. And I used to be actually keen to take that on proper now. I used to be like, ‘Ooh, villain period, let’s go.’
Provided that pink often signifies a malevolent Program within the Tron universe, it shouldn’t be stunning that Athena might be a foul man in Tron: Ares. What hasn’t been made clear but is that since this film is called after Jared Leto’s character, will he even be a villain the entire time as nicely, or will he change allegiances through the story? I hope it’s the latter, as a result of it might be fascinating to see Athena battle her former chief since she received’t let something forestall her from fulfilling her mission.
EXCLUSIVE 🚨 Meet Jodie Turner-Smith’s “completely uncompromising” Tron: Ares character Athena – coming to trigger chaos on the Grid and past. “I used to be like, ‘Ooh, villain period, let’s go’,” she tells Empire.Learn extra: https://t.co/3PtDP4k8Py pic.twitter.com/mSOm72R3IHJune 27, 2025
Precisely what that mission entails stays to be seen, however Jodie Turner-Smith, who additionally presently stars within the Paramount+ subscription-exclusive collection The Company, additionally revealed that she selected a side of her character’s look. The factor is, she didn’t obtain permission to do that, with Turner-Smith recalling:
Joachim truly was not down for that concept. They wished me to go blonde, so I did, and I additionally bleached my eyebrows. After which I believed, ‘You understand what? It’s gonna look higher if the eyebrows are gone. If anybody’s upset, I’ll simply inform them the bleach made them fall out.’ It was a kind of occasions of asking for forgiveness relatively than permission.
I’m glad it labored out, and it was additionally smart for her to have a fallback clarification in case Joachim Rønning and every other higher-ups on Tron: Ares didn’t approve of the look. Jodie Turner-Smith finds herself in good firm with Christopher Lloyd, who shaved his eyebrows the primary time he appeared on the 12 Monkeys TV collection. It’ll definitely assist make Athena stand out… on high of sporting a glowing pink go well with.
Tron: Ares comes out on October 10, and its different solid members embody Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson and Sarah Desjardins. The earlier Tron films, in addition to the animated collection Tron: Rebellion, might be streamed with a Disney+ subscription.