Long ago, I was first exposed to the Tron franchise through the “Space Paranoids” level in Kingdom Hearts II, which adapted elements of the original 1982 movie. Four years later, I saw Tron: Legacy in a theater, and I’ve been looking forward to Tron: Ares’ release on the 2025 movies schedule. But just a few days ago, I finally carved out time to watch the first Tron movie. It was both an entertaining experience and an interesting look at what was considered groundbreaking cinematic technology more than 40 years ago.
More importantly, though, with the additional context I now have for this franchise, I think I know what’s going on with Ares’ version of The Grid and who Jeff Bridges is playing. The good news is that there’s only a few more days to go until we learn if I’m correct or not, but these are my last-minute musings.
Tron: Ares’ Grid Is Based Off The MCP-Controlled One
Just like the lightsabers in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, blue means good and red means bad in the original Tron. It’s straightforward enough, right? Now, obviously that gets a little complicated in Tron: Ares since Jared Leto’s title character is colored red, yet he’s not going to be an antagonist. It adds some moral complexity that wasn’t present in the first movie, but I digress.
After I finished Tron, I was reminded about how we never see any red Programs in Tron: Legacy. The forces commanded by CLU 2.0 are orange, while CLU himself was orange. That leads me to believe that The Grid we see in Tron: Ares is not the same one Sam Flynn was transported to in Legacy. It’s certainly plausible that the backup Sam made of that Grid could have been stolen and corrupted, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. Instead, my theory is that Tron: Ares’ Grid is based off the original Grid when it was controlled by the Master Control Program (MCP) in the early ‘80s.
That wouldn’t be too surprising surprising considering that Ares and these other digital soldiers hail from Dillinger Systems, which is run by Evan Peters’ Julian Dillinger and Gillian Anderson’s Elisabeth Dillinger, the respective grandson and daughter of David Warner’s Edward Dillinger. Even though the MCP was defeated at the end of Tron, perhaps the Dillingers were able to extract some remnants of the Program and use it as the basis for their Grid. That would explain why there are more red Programs than blue ones.
Jeff Bridges Isn’t Playing The Actual Kevin Flynn
Jeff Bridges is the only familiar face back for Tron: Ares, despite that Kevin Flynn seemingly perished in Tron: Legacy. Disney’s been playing coy about if Flynn is actually still alive, and I’m now firmly in the camp that believes this isn’t really him. His overly formal line delivery in the footage we’ve seen, plus him being colored purple in this Grid, struck me as unusual.
Then it occurred to me after watching Tron: what happens when you mix red and blue? You get purple. My new theory is that Jeff Bridges is playing some kind of neutral Program that was created from both the “good” and “bad” programming from The Grid when Edward Dillinger controlled it. He may even be the physical representation of the Permanence Code, which allows digital objects to permanently remain in the real world. Either way, the purple coloring would indicate that Bridges’ character doesn’t serve Dillinger Systems or ENCOM (now being run by Greta Lee’s Eve Kim), but is instead an impartial player in this game.
After you’ve read CinemaBlend’s Tron: Ares review, see the movie in theaters starting this Friday to see if I’m on the money with my predictions. You’re also welcome to use your Disney+ subscription to join me in watching Tron, or check out Tron: Legacy or the short-lived animated series Tron: Uprising.