Jeff Bridges confirms that he will be a part of the next Tron movie but how is that possible?

It's official: Jeff Bridges will indeed be back in Tron 3 although it's uncertain if it's Kevin Flynn or someone else. 

Tron may not have been a huge box office success in 1982 but was a groundbreaker for films. It's the story of Kevin Flynn, a hotshot programmer whose career is ruined when a jealous rival steals his games and presents them as his own. Kevin is soon trying to hack the system for evidence, getting the attention of the all-powerful Master Control Program.

The MCP sends Flynn into the digital world where Flynn has to survive among the programs there. He befriends Tron (Bruce Boxleinter) to fight off the MCP. Eventually, Flynn is victorious and proves how he was the creator of those games to take over the company.

The movie was famous for its groundbreaking CGI effects and some fun action. It grew a huge cult following over the decades, culminating in a 2010 sequel. This had Flynn mysteriously vanishing and his son Sam following him into the Grid. Bridges (by then an Oscar-winning esteemed actor) played both Flynn and (with de-aging CGI) the villainous avatar Clu. The movie appeared to end with Flynn sacrificing himself to stop Clu.

That looked to be the end of it, but speaking to the Film Comment podcast, Bridges confirmed that he will indeed be appearing in the upcoming Tron: Ares

"I'm heading off this Saturday to play a part in the third installment of the 'Tron' story; I'm excited about that. It's wild. Jared Leto is the star of this third one, and I'm really anxious to work with him, and I've admired his work."

Bridges added he shared the same concerns of fans over the deaging tech used for Tron: Legacy and that he's happy Ares will use practical sets. 

"When I did Tron 2, Tron Legacy, we had to put all these dots on our face and all these kinds of things. And that's [probably] all passé. I had to see myself as a young guy or as another character, but the same guy, but it was gonna be digitally created. I think it was [de-aging], but I didn't like the way I looked in it. I felt like I looked more like Bill Maher than myself. It was kind of bizarre."

There's not much known about the movie's plot, with the logline hinting that it will flip the concept over by having a program named Ares enter the real world. Filming was delayed by the 2023 Hollywood strikes but is underway now.

It's up in the air how Bridges will appear in the film. The most logical explanation is that it's a flashback of Flynn in his programming days, using the same de-aging tech for a younger Bridges. It's also possible that Clu will return once more as an antagonist. Then again, it's likely Flynn isn't so dead after all and Bridges wants to play the role one more time. 

Either way, it wouldn't be a Tron movie without Bridges around and his eagerness to be in this one is a nice boost for the film. Fans will respond better to seeing Flynn in some sort of form and linking the movie to the previous ones. That should make for one legacy sequel that's worth the wait for fans.

Tron: Ares set to premiere October 15, 2025.