Tron: Ares’s main character is based on a surprising Disney character. Jared Leto plays Ares in the upcoming Disney sequel. Director Joachim Rønning listed Pinocchio as one of the influences in building Tron: Ares during a conversation with Empire Magazine. Leto’s Ares wants to escape to our world from The Grid and that motivation seems pretty familiar.

Rønning explains, “Not to be too clichéd, but I always thought about him a bit like Pinocchio,” director Joachim Rønning tells Empire of Leto’s character. “Ares wants to be a real boy.”

Jared Leto Tron: Ares

There’s a lot this program has to learn about the real world. It’s an exciting dimension to take a Tron movie in. Rønning and his team delivered an absolutely stunning trailer this week after CinemaCon. Tron: Ares looks to deliver some emotional heft along with those stunning visuals.

“We talked a lot about him almost being an infant, discovering the world for the first time, and how we wanted the audience to see the world through his eyes,” Rønning shared. “The little things that we take for granted, or don’t see anymore. That was important. And then a bigger theme for the film is what it takes — what it means — to be human. Especially in this case, because he’s a computer program.”

Tron: Ares Takes Inspiration From Surprising Disney Film

Tron: Ares

Disney dropped a short synopsis for the upcoming film right here: “TRON: Ares follows a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.

The feature film is directed by Joachim Rønning and stars Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, and Cameron Monaghan, with Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges. Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver, Justin Springer, Leto, Emma Ludbrook, and Steven Lisberger are the producers, with Russell Allen serving as executive producer.

Disney’s TRON: Ares releases in U.S. theaters on October 10, 2025.

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