Jeff Bridges has already returned to Flynn’s Arcade for Tron: Ares

Has anyone seen the movie Tron: Ares? For once, not even Chief Wiggum would have to lie about that.

Following a decade-long gestation period following 2010’s Tron: Legacy, a third part of the Tron trilogy, Tron: Ares, is riding its Light Cycle to theaters much quicker than we expected. After being reconfigured as a Jared Leto vehicle and numerous strike- and pandemic-related delays, the movie launched into production with director Joachim Rønning last year. Rønning is no stranger to bringing overdue sequels across the finish line, having helmed Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficient: Mistress Of Evil. We’ll leave readers to determine whether all this sounds like a compelling continuation of the Tron, um, legacy, but nevertheless, the series’ centerpiece will return for part three. Appearing on the Film Comment podcast, Bridges told the hosts that he was “heading off Saturday” to film his part in Ares. Though Bridges’ reps told Variety that he recorded the podcast “a while ago” and already wrapped on Tron, there’s one thing he couldn’t escape: the anxiety of working with Leto.

“I’m really anxious to work [Leto],” Bridges said. Presumably recalling the scene in Morbius when Dr. Michael Morbius meets Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Vulture (Michael Keaton), the actor concluded, “I’ve admired his work.” It’s just a shame Obadiah Stane hasn’t met Dr. Morbius yet.

Bridges didn’t offer much with regards to what’s coming in the new movie, except that the film was using many “practical sets,” “less AI stuff,” and that he would no longer look like “Bill Maher.” Bridges told Film Comment that he “didn’t like the way I looked in [Legacy],” referring to the de-aging effects used to make Bridges look like a 50-year-old Skyler Giosondo who recently had some tasteful work done. Bridges thinks he “looked more like Bill Maher than myself,” and we respectfully disagree. If Bridges was the one getting stoned on Club Random, many of the world’s problems would be solved.

Tron: Ares is expected in theaters next year.