The legacy of Tron has been running for over 40 years now – across which time the series has produced just three films, returning after extended absences to deliver fresh tales of a digital world. First came Tron in 1982, followed by Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy in 2010. And then, this year, arrived Tron: Ares, in which the computerised Tron world bled into our reality.
While Ares is the third Tron film, Kosinski – who has since gone on to direct the likes of Top Gun: Maverick and F1 – sees the latest entry less as a continuation of his Legacy, but a different track for the series. “I don’t really see it as a sequel,” he tells Empire, noting that Ares does take some influence from his unmade Legacy sequel. “This definitely used elements of a movie I worked on, called ‘Tron: Ascension’, in terms of maybe some of the set-pieces and visuals, but it really inverted the story and told it from a completely different point of view. So I see it more like a parallel story as opposed to a sequel. But I’m thrilled that what Steve Lisberger created in 1982 still resonates today.”
Looking back on his feature debut, Kosinski marvels at the carte blanche he was given to bring Tron back to life, 18 years after the first film hit cinemas. “I now realise how lucky I was that Disney gave me the freedom on that film. I don’t know if that would happen today,” he says. “They wanted me to go for it, hiring Daft Punk and a bunch of actors that hadn’t really done big films before, and the whole crew was very green. It was my first time on a film set. But in some ways, I think what makes the film so unique is that we didn’t know what the rules were. We just did it.” Who’s ready for Tron 4 in a decade or so?
Read Empire’s full Joseph Kosinski interview – on F1, and the career that led him to it – in the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man issue, on sale Thursday 18 December. Pre-order a copy online here. F1 is out now on 4K Ultra-HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Apple TV.
