Tron 3 Plot Details Revealed: 'TRON: Ascension' Would've Been A Real World Invasion Movie
TRON 3, which had the working title TRON: Ascension, isn't dead, according to director Joseph Kosinski (Oblivion). Every once in a while somebody involved in TRON 3 says never say never, but two years ago was when Disney pulled the plug on the project. During a recent Q & A for TRON: Legacy, Kosinski said the sequel is in a "cryogenic freeze" in addition to sharing some new plot details.
Below, learn more about the Tron 3 plot.
Disney currently has Marvel, Disney, Pixar, and their live-action reimagining to keep the lights on for at least a few more years. They're doing just fine, so there's not much incentive on their behalf to make TRON: Ascension at the moment. That's how Kosinski explained the TRON 3 situation to Collider:, explaining that the project is in "cryogenic freeze."
It's not dead. It's alive, but it's sitting there, waiting for the right time to move forward. I mean, you have to remember that when we made TRON: Legacy, Disney did not own Marvel. Disney did not own Lucasfilm...they own everything now. But this was before they owned everything, so from the studio point of view, they have a certain number of slots and a certain amount of money to make movies and if you can make a Star Wars spinoff or another Marvel movie, which are all doing incredibly well, a TRON movie, even though I think it would do very well, the question is: Would it do as well as one of those? That is more the reason we haven't seen another TRON is that Disney stock is flushed with really successful properties right now. But that doesn't mean we won't see one at one point.
Kosinski was originally going to start shooting the sequel in Vancouver back in October of 2015. The story would've picked up where Legacy left off — exploring the idea of Quorra (Olivia Wilde) in the real world. The grid and our world would've then collided in TRON: Ascension, in what Kosinski described as an "invasion movie":
I think we got the script to about 80%. We were in good shape. We were probably eight or nine months out, which is still a good amount of distance from being ready to shoot it, but I think the script was in good shape. What I'm excited about is the concept, which is an invasion movie from inside the machine coming out as opposed to one we've usually seen. So we hinted at that at the end of Legacy with Quorra coming out, but the idea for Ascension was a movie that was, the first act was in the real world, the second act was in the world of TRON, or multiple worlds of TRON, and the third act was totally in the real world. And I think that really opens up, blows open the concept of TRON in a way that would be thrilling to see on screen. But there's also a really interesting character study in Quorra and a "Stranger in a Strange Land," trying to figure out where she belongs having lived in the real world for a few years, and where does she fit in.
How would Quorra fare outside of the grid? She wouldn't have super powers, but "being the first digital-human hybrid, there's something in her being that allows objects from inside the Grid to exist in the real world and makes them permanent." Her presence in our world would raise plenty of other questions, which we could maybe see one day answered in TRON: Ascension, which, unfortunately, doesn't appear close to happening.