The Writer of ‘Tron: Ares’ Talks Spoilers and the Movie’s Many Iterations Along the Way
The Writer of ‘Tron: Ares’ Talks Spoilers and the Movie’s Many Iterations Along the Way
Jesse Wigutow talks with io9 about the development of 'Tron: Ares,' including its ending.
By Germain Lussier Published October 10, 2025
If history has taught us anything, it’s that Tron sequels are never easy. Almost 30 years elapsed between the groundbreaking 1982 original and its 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy. It then took a shorter, but still significant, 15 years for the third film, Tron: Ares, to be released, but that was never the plan. Many, many things changed over the years, and one of the people who was around for almost all of it was writer Jesse Wigutow.
Wigutow, who also worked on Legacy, was officially hired to write its sequel in 2012. By then, director Joseph Kosinski, as well as multiple writers, had already been working on it for almost three years, starting well before Legacy’s release. Only, that film wasn’t called Tron: Ares. It was called Tron: Ascension, and it would’ve followed the events of the previous film. But soon after, Disney bought Lucasfilm and took over Marvel, and the company no longer saw Tron as a priority.
Five years passed, but Wigutow never gave up hope. He was rewarded in 2017, when the franchise came back to life, this time with newly minted Oscar winner (and Tron megafan) Jared Leto leading the charge, and a mostly refreshed narrative. That was far from the end of the line, but now, eight years later, Tron: Ares is finally here. And what a journey it has been.
This week, io9 spoke with Wigutow over video chat to discuss all of those steps. We talked about how the film has changed from the beginning, why that happened, as well as some spoilery specifics about where the franchise could be going from here. Oh, and he’s also a producer on Daredevil: Born Again, so we talked about that, too.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Germain Lussier, io9: I’ve been following this movie forever, and it looks like you came on board around 2012 when there had already been a few writers. What shape was the movie in at that time, and what were your initial directives?
Jesse Wigutow: Coming out of Legacy, there was an interest in telling a more direct, continued sequel to that story. Carrying those characters forward, carrying that mythology forward into another chapter. And I was there for those conversations and part of that process. At a certain point, for a lot of different reasons, there was a kind of a pivot. And the pivot became, “Let’s take this character who had been a more kind of singular or two-dimensional villain in a different concept and build a movie around him.” And that became Ares.
io9: So when you first came on board what was then called Tron: Ascension, did you kind of start from scratch, or did you kind of look at what other writers had done?
Wigutow: Yeah, I worked on Ascension and had taken the torch from Dave DiGilio, who had a great draft. [He’s a] great writer. But it was a different version of the movie, which again, I did a lot of work on that iteration of it. And then a lot of different things kind of came to pass, more of a corporate decision, I think, than anything else. And then when it became the Ares movie, that was from the ground up.
io9: Right, I know there was a lot of work done on the film in those years before it kind of went away. When that did happen, did you ever think it would come back like this?
Wigutow: Yes. I mean, as a writer, you have to be realistic about the landscape and kind of keep putting one foot in front of the other and dive into other work and other projects, other worlds. [But] I always remain connected and hopeful about Tron. And at a certain point, it did come back and it came back with a lot of energy and this new concept. And, again you try to remain hopeful. But there is this sense of like, who knows? Who knows if this actually ever gets off the ground and gets shot. But it was super satisfying when it did.
Ares and his unique disc. – Disney
io9: My understanding is that a big part of that was Jared Leto’s passion for it, so what was it like when you realized we’re going to reimagine this little with new direction? What was it like getting that call and starting again?
Wigutow: I got the same call you’ve already heard about it in a certain way, that there’s an opportunity to rebuild this in a different direction. I sat down with Jared, his producing partner, Emma Ludbrook, some of the other producers like Justin Springer. And, you know, kind of spitballed. And I think the way it worked was I think I came back with maybe a single page, and in a way, going back and looking at that single page, it remains, with some adjustments and a couple of different moves here and there, the blueprint for the movie that you see on screen.
io9: Did you understand the choice at that point to kind of take those Tron: Legacy elements and push them to the side? Did you agree with it? Did you understand? Were you disappointed by it?
Wigutow: I would say neither. I mean, I was excited about the possibility of a new direction. Certainly, having worked on Legacy, and being in the conversations around Ascension, I felt a certain kind of connection myself to the Sam/Quorra [story]. Obviously, Flynn’s character has to be a part of any Tron chapter. So, you kind of look at what the landscape is, and there was an opportunity to do something a little different. And in my mind, to be honest with you, it presented this [opportunity] to do something a little smaller and a little more character-based. And that’s super exciting. Of course, I was being a little naïve.
io9: Yeah, it’s not small.
Wigutow: Not at all. If this thing’s going to go. It’s going to be it’s going to be a big movie. But I think we found a really nice balance.
The lightcycles of Tron. – Disney
io9: Oh, definitely. So, at that point, what was the most challenging thing about the movie? What was it finding that balance? Was it making it more of an Ares hero journey? Because I guess the one element you did have is the Grid coming to the real world, right? I feel like that was the one thing that’s always been there the way through.
Wigutow: Yeah. That was very much, obviously, part of the design from the get-go. And I really, really was excited about that reversal of the ratio of time spent in the Grid versus time spent in the real world. You know, I think what’s been most challenging, interesting, and serendipitous in certain ways ultimately has been the explosive growth of AI from day one of this conversation to where we are today. And in a way, we’ve been kind of chasing the technology. Every draft of the script has been challenged by new breakthroughs in technology. But I also think what’s been interesting is seeing what started out as this kind of positing some sci-fi supposition has become not 50, 70, 100 years into the future, but maybe three minutes into the future.
Note: The interview now gets into spoilers about Tron: Ares. Afterward, there are a few teases of Daredevil: Born Again season two, so come back with that photo.
io9: You mentioned that Flynn kind of has to be a part of a Tron thing, but one thing that’s not there this time is Tron himself. Talk about the decision to not have Tron in this movie.
Wigutow: I think there was a conversation at one point. At a certain point in the development, it just wanted to make this its own thing. And it wasn’t that there was a choice to say “We don’t need Tron.” There just wasn’t a role in this story that was obvious. And to kind of shoehorn it in felt, I don’t know, like it wasn’t necessary.
io9: Right. And obviously, this movie is written with plenty more places to go. The ending did remind me of Legacy, though in that, once again, a digital being is now in the real world, not sure of their place. Was that parallel a conscious decision by everybody?
Wigutow: Maybe subconscious. It’s part of, again, the kind of genetic mapping of the franchise. I love the kind of ellipsis that the movie leaves itself off on. He’s out there. He’s learning. He’s growing. He’s developing. And who knows where we may find him next and what he looks like and what, you know, what he’s grown into.
io9: Whose idea was for the mid-credit scene with Dillinger kind of getting Sark-y?
Wigutow: Man, I don’t even remember where that comes from. There were a couple of different iterations of the mid-credit coda. It just felt like it completed Evan’s story in a really satisfying way and also excites the real hardcore fans who understand what we’re positing and opens the door for, if we get so lucky to do another one of these.
io9: So in the end, Ares goes off looking for Quorra. If you’re lucky to make another movie, and it is kind of a merging of the two, are there elements from the development of Ascension that could be used?
Wigutow: That’s a great question. I don’t know that I have thought about it quite in that way, other than the fact that Ascension… I don’t know, is the answer. We’ll find out if there’s an opportunity or a conversation around doing another one of these at one point. It’s kind of above my pay grade. Right. But I do think it’s an exciting idea anyway, potentially, that Ares and Quorra find each other.
io9: Right. And the movie has a lot of teases of like, why did Sam stop working for Encom? Did it have to do with Quorra? Things like that.
Wigutow: Yeah. I mean, there are some similar themes in that regard when we think about Eve and the conversation around her future. But yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I would love the opportunity. But it’s out of my hands.
io9: Super nerdy, weird question. What exactly is Ares? In your mind, does he have human biology? What is inside of him? What do you think he is in reality as he’s walking around?
Wigutow: That’s a very good question, man. I do think [that]. I think that there is this kind of unspoken, natural resource, that’s probably quite valuable, that is fueling those lasers. And there’s something about the kind of genetic binding that can’t live beyond the time limit that we put on it, that the Permanence Code then makes binding. So in a way, if you were to kind of slice them in half and do a diagnostic or autopsy, yeah, I’d like to believe that you would find human biology. But I don’t know that that’s the correct answer.
End spoilers.
io9: Lastly, just bring it back to Tron, what does it feel like now that the movie’s coming out and you’ve seen it grow through so many different iterations? What are you feeling in this moment about all the work you’ve done?
Wigutow: A lot of satisfaction. A lot of relief, in a way. Sometimes disbelief. I mean, I said to a couple of the producers at the premiere, like it’s just bananas that we’re actually here. That this moment has happened and is happening. So yeah, it’s been so spread out and there’s been so many starts and stops. I actually, on a personal level, was struggling to be present at the premiere and really soaking it in and appreciating what was happening. But certainly was able to get there and certainly by the next day, I was like, “God, that’s so crazy.” So it’s been a lot of fun, and I feel kind of blessed.
Jesse Wigutow talks with io9 about the development of 'Tron: Ares,' including its ending.
By Germain Lussier Published October 10, 2025
If history has taught us anything, it’s that Tron sequels are never easy. Almost 30 years elapsed between the groundbreaking 1982 original and its 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy. It then took a shorter, but still significant, 15 years for the third film, Tron: Ares, to be released, but that was never the plan. Many, many things changed over the years, and one of the people who was around for almost all of it was writer Jesse Wigutow.
Wigutow, who also worked on Legacy, was officially hired to write its sequel in 2012. By then, director Joseph Kosinski, as well as multiple writers, had already been working on it for almost three years, starting well before Legacy’s release. Only, that film wasn’t called Tron: Ares. It was called Tron: Ascension, and it would’ve followed the events of the previous film. But soon after, Disney bought Lucasfilm and took over Marvel, and the company no longer saw Tron as a priority.
Five years passed, but Wigutow never gave up hope. He was rewarded in 2017, when the franchise came back to life, this time with newly minted Oscar winner (and Tron megafan) Jared Leto leading the charge, and a mostly refreshed narrative. That was far from the end of the line, but now, eight years later, Tron: Ares is finally here. And what a journey it has been.
This week, io9 spoke with Wigutow over video chat to discuss all of those steps. We talked about how the film has changed from the beginning, why that happened, as well as some spoilery specifics about where the franchise could be going from here. Oh, and he’s also a producer on Daredevil: Born Again, so we talked about that, too.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Germain Lussier, io9: I’ve been following this movie forever, and it looks like you came on board around 2012 when there had already been a few writers. What shape was the movie in at that time, and what were your initial directives?
Jesse Wigutow: Coming out of Legacy, there was an interest in telling a more direct, continued sequel to that story. Carrying those characters forward, carrying that mythology forward into another chapter. And I was there for those conversations and part of that process. At a certain point, for a lot of different reasons, there was a kind of a pivot. And the pivot became, “Let’s take this character who had been a more kind of singular or two-dimensional villain in a different concept and build a movie around him.” And that became Ares.
io9: So when you first came on board what was then called Tron: Ascension, did you kind of start from scratch, or did you kind of look at what other writers had done?
Wigutow: Yeah, I worked on Ascension and had taken the torch from Dave DiGilio, who had a great draft. [He’s a] great writer. But it was a different version of the movie, which again, I did a lot of work on that iteration of it. And then a lot of different things kind of came to pass, more of a corporate decision, I think, than anything else. And then when it became the Ares movie, that was from the ground up.
io9: Right, I know there was a lot of work done on the film in those years before it kind of went away. When that did happen, did you ever think it would come back like this?
Wigutow: Yes. I mean, as a writer, you have to be realistic about the landscape and kind of keep putting one foot in front of the other and dive into other work and other projects, other worlds. [But] I always remain connected and hopeful about Tron. And at a certain point, it did come back and it came back with a lot of energy and this new concept. And, again you try to remain hopeful. But there is this sense of like, who knows? Who knows if this actually ever gets off the ground and gets shot. But it was super satisfying when it did.
Ares and his unique disc. – Disney
io9: My understanding is that a big part of that was Jared Leto’s passion for it, so what was it like when you realized we’re going to reimagine this little with new direction? What was it like getting that call and starting again?
Wigutow: I got the same call you’ve already heard about it in a certain way, that there’s an opportunity to rebuild this in a different direction. I sat down with Jared, his producing partner, Emma Ludbrook, some of the other producers like Justin Springer. And, you know, kind of spitballed. And I think the way it worked was I think I came back with maybe a single page, and in a way, going back and looking at that single page, it remains, with some adjustments and a couple of different moves here and there, the blueprint for the movie that you see on screen.
io9: Did you understand the choice at that point to kind of take those Tron: Legacy elements and push them to the side? Did you agree with it? Did you understand? Were you disappointed by it?
Wigutow: I would say neither. I mean, I was excited about the possibility of a new direction. Certainly, having worked on Legacy, and being in the conversations around Ascension, I felt a certain kind of connection myself to the Sam/Quorra [story]. Obviously, Flynn’s character has to be a part of any Tron chapter. So, you kind of look at what the landscape is, and there was an opportunity to do something a little different. And in my mind, to be honest with you, it presented this [opportunity] to do something a little smaller and a little more character-based. And that’s super exciting. Of course, I was being a little naïve.
io9: Yeah, it’s not small.
Wigutow: Not at all. If this thing’s going to go. It’s going to be it’s going to be a big movie. But I think we found a really nice balance.
The lightcycles of Tron. – Disney
io9: Oh, definitely. So, at that point, what was the most challenging thing about the movie? What was it finding that balance? Was it making it more of an Ares hero journey? Because I guess the one element you did have is the Grid coming to the real world, right? I feel like that was the one thing that’s always been there the way through.
Wigutow: Yeah. That was very much, obviously, part of the design from the get-go. And I really, really was excited about that reversal of the ratio of time spent in the Grid versus time spent in the real world. You know, I think what’s been most challenging, interesting, and serendipitous in certain ways ultimately has been the explosive growth of AI from day one of this conversation to where we are today. And in a way, we’ve been kind of chasing the technology. Every draft of the script has been challenged by new breakthroughs in technology. But I also think what’s been interesting is seeing what started out as this kind of positing some sci-fi supposition has become not 50, 70, 100 years into the future, but maybe three minutes into the future.
Note: The interview now gets into spoilers about Tron: Ares. Afterward, there are a few teases of Daredevil: Born Again season two, so come back with that photo.
io9: You mentioned that Flynn kind of has to be a part of a Tron thing, but one thing that’s not there this time is Tron himself. Talk about the decision to not have Tron in this movie.
Wigutow: I think there was a conversation at one point. At a certain point in the development, it just wanted to make this its own thing. And it wasn’t that there was a choice to say “We don’t need Tron.” There just wasn’t a role in this story that was obvious. And to kind of shoehorn it in felt, I don’t know, like it wasn’t necessary.
io9: Right. And obviously, this movie is written with plenty more places to go. The ending did remind me of Legacy, though in that, once again, a digital being is now in the real world, not sure of their place. Was that parallel a conscious decision by everybody?
Wigutow: Maybe subconscious. It’s part of, again, the kind of genetic mapping of the franchise. I love the kind of ellipsis that the movie leaves itself off on. He’s out there. He’s learning. He’s growing. He’s developing. And who knows where we may find him next and what he looks like and what, you know, what he’s grown into.
io9: Whose idea was for the mid-credit scene with Dillinger kind of getting Sark-y?
Wigutow: Man, I don’t even remember where that comes from. There were a couple of different iterations of the mid-credit coda. It just felt like it completed Evan’s story in a really satisfying way and also excites the real hardcore fans who understand what we’re positing and opens the door for, if we get so lucky to do another one of these.
io9: So in the end, Ares goes off looking for Quorra. If you’re lucky to make another movie, and it is kind of a merging of the two, are there elements from the development of Ascension that could be used?
Wigutow: That’s a great question. I don’t know that I have thought about it quite in that way, other than the fact that Ascension… I don’t know, is the answer. We’ll find out if there’s an opportunity or a conversation around doing another one of these at one point. It’s kind of above my pay grade. Right. But I do think it’s an exciting idea anyway, potentially, that Ares and Quorra find each other.
io9: Right. And the movie has a lot of teases of like, why did Sam stop working for Encom? Did it have to do with Quorra? Things like that.
Wigutow: Yeah. I mean, there are some similar themes in that regard when we think about Eve and the conversation around her future. But yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I would love the opportunity. But it’s out of my hands.
io9: Super nerdy, weird question. What exactly is Ares? In your mind, does he have human biology? What is inside of him? What do you think he is in reality as he’s walking around?
Wigutow: That’s a very good question, man. I do think [that]. I think that there is this kind of unspoken, natural resource, that’s probably quite valuable, that is fueling those lasers. And there’s something about the kind of genetic binding that can’t live beyond the time limit that we put on it, that the Permanence Code then makes binding. So in a way, if you were to kind of slice them in half and do a diagnostic or autopsy, yeah, I’d like to believe that you would find human biology. But I don’t know that that’s the correct answer.
End spoilers.
io9: Lastly, just bring it back to Tron, what does it feel like now that the movie’s coming out and you’ve seen it grow through so many different iterations? What are you feeling in this moment about all the work you’ve done?
Wigutow: A lot of satisfaction. A lot of relief, in a way. Sometimes disbelief. I mean, I said to a couple of the producers at the premiere, like it’s just bananas that we’re actually here. That this moment has happened and is happening. So yeah, it’s been so spread out and there’s been so many starts and stops. I actually, on a personal level, was struggling to be present at the premiere and really soaking it in and appreciating what was happening. But certainly was able to get there and certainly by the next day, I was like, “God, that’s so crazy.” So it’s been a lot of fun, and I feel kind of blessed.
