Everything to Remember Before Seeing ‘Tron: Ares’

The world of Tron returns to theaters next week with Tron: Ares, and it’s a world that’s much more complex than you may realize. Ares is the third film in the Tron franchise, which has also included an animated TV show, games, comics, and more. All of which works because in 1982, writer-director Steven Lisberger created this way-ahead-of-its-time computer world, with its own rules, language, and more. Tron is all about world-building, both on screen and off. And short of sitting down to watch the previous two films (which, of course, we always recommend you do), we wanted to give you some of the basic story, characters, and rules of the world so you can jump into Tron: Ares on October 10 like a fully fledged user. Here we go. The Grid Imagine there’s a world inside your computer. Each program looks like a person, and you, at the keyboard or mouse, control them. That world is called “The Grid,” and it’s a place no one knew actually existed or could be accessed until Kevin Flynn did it. Kevin Flynn Played by Jeff Bridges, Kevin Flynn is a genius programmer who was fired by a company named Encom and opened his own arcade, Flynn’s. Encom is now run by Ed Dillinger, who stole and took credit for Flynn’s work. To attempt to prove he’s being ripped off, Flynn breaks into Encom and is subsequently sent onto the Grid by an evil security program called the MCP, or Master Control Program. Once on the Grid, Flynn realizes his computer skills make him a formidable force and, with the help of some other programs, he eventually destroys the MCP and proves that Dillinger ripped him off. At the end of the first film, he’s made CEO of Encom. WTF is a Tron? The film’s namesake, Tron, is the name of a heroic security program that protects the Grid. He’s played by Bruce Boxleitner (who also plays Flynn’s good friend Alan Bradley) and is one of the programs that helps Flynn defeat the MCP in the first film. The character returns in Tron: Legacy, first as the evil, reprogrammed “Rinzler,” before going back to the good guys and sacrificing himself for Flynn. Tron is also the name of a game Kevin Flynn creates at Encom after his experiences on the Grid, which becomes incredibly popular in the world of the films. Tron speak On the Grid, there are “programs” (which are self-explanatory) and “users.” Only one user, to this point, has ever actually entered and appeared on the Grid: Flynn. And while there, he has to avoid being “derezed,” which is a fancy way of saying “killed.” When on the Grid, a person’s life is tied to their “identity disc,” which they wear on their back. Games Games are a huge part of the Grid. Sometimes these are games that are controlled by the users, but often they’re just happening between programs as a way to visualize their computing. The most famous game is Lightcycle, which is basically just a fancy game of Snake where you can’t run into your own tail. The second film, Tron: Legacy, introduced other games too, including one where you throw your disc at others. Between the films Seven years after becoming CEO of Encom, Kevin Flynn goes missing, leaving his son, Sam, behind. With Kevin presumed dead, Sam becomes the main shareholder of Encom. He’s just a kid, though, so other people step into leadership positions until he gets older. One of those people is Ed Dillinger Jr., son of the disgraced executive from the first film, played by Cillian Murphy. Tron: Legacy When a mysterious signal calls the now-grown Sam (Garrett Hedlund) back to his father’s abandoned arcade, he’s transported to the Grid and becomes the second user to ever materialize there. While there, Sam eventually finds his father, Kevin, who he learns had been trapped there. Years prior, Kevin was trying to use and build the Grid into something the real world could benefit from with the help of Tron and a program he created named Clu, which was basically his digital double. That’s when Kevin and Clu discovered a whole new form of life existing on the Grid, which they named “Isos” (isomorphic algorithms). Kevin thought the Isos were the breakthrough he needed to change the world for the better. But Clu disagreed and rebelled. He destroyed the Isos, trapped Flynn, and took control of the Grid. Over the course of Legacy, we watch as Sam, Kevin, and the final Iso, Quorra (Olivia Wilde), work to defeat Clu and help Kevin and Sam get out of the Grid. Flynn’s fate In order to save Sam and Quorra, Flynn ends up recombining with Clu, which destroys them both. Or so we thought before seeing the trailer for Ares. The cliffhanger Tron: Legacy then ends with Sam, now in full control of Encom, with Quorra in the real world. She’s the key to a whole new branch of human and digital evolution, as she wasn’t created biologically. The film ends with that promise of the future lingering. Tron: Ares From the trailers of Tron: Ares, we know that Encom has become a successful video game company and that another Dillinger, Julian (Evan Peters), has a rival company and is running his own Grid. Will the events of Tron: Legacy play into it? We don’t know. But now you know what the Grid, a user, an Identity Disc, lightcycles, Kevin Flynn, and Flynn’s Arcade all are. And that’s the important thing. Tron and Tron: Legacy are now streaming on Disney+. Tron: Ares is in theaters on October 10.