There’s a new Tron movie coming out in the form of the long-awaited threequel, Tron: Ares, and franchise fans are undeniably excited. As well they should be; Ares has a lot going for it, from its distinct visuals to its pulsing Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. But even the most ardent of Tron fans has almost certainly found themselves asking a simple question in the lead-up to the film’s release: why is Jared Leto the lead of this movie?
Jared Leto has been in show-business for a hot minute. The now fifty-three-year-old actor rose to prominence as a teen heartthrob in the ‘90s on the show, My So Called Life. From there, he would go on to segue into a two-pronged approach, delivering performances in renowned films such as Fight Club and Requiem for a Dream, while also becoming the frontman of his own rock band, 30 Seconds to Mars. The entertainer found success on both fronts, but each of them reached a pinnacle in the early 2010s. 30 Seconds to Mars’ album This Is War launched the band to new levels of success, and shortly thereafter, Leto won an Academy Award for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club. These successes brought Hollywood to his door in unprecedented fashion, and Leto reveled in the opportunities. However, this high would soon turn to astonishing lows such as Suicide Squad and Morbius.
It has now been over a decade since Leto had anything that could even be generously referred to as a success, musically or cinematically. 30 Seconds to Mars has become such easy fodder for jokes, with a string of failed albums and rebrands that Peacemaker recently took them to task with several jokes. As a movie star, Leto has become outright box office poison and has received unanimously negative reviews essentially ever since winning his Oscar. On top of all of this, he has also been accused of numerous counts of sexual misconduct. In short, in 2025, Jared Leto brings a lot of baggage to any given project, so why did Disney choose him to front their new would-be blockbuster? Well, they didn’t.
Leto is both the star and producer of Tron: Ares, and is allegedly a massive fan of the Tron franchise. According to Tron: Legacy and Ares producer, Justin Springer, Leto actually reached out to Disney as far back as 2010 about participating in a Tron-related project. As such, when the wheels finally started turning on developing a new Tron movie, Leto was involved from the start. As Springer puts it, “He came on to star and to produce with us, and I’ve worked with him on it from the ground up. So it’s different than just going out and hiring an actor and saying, ‘This guy feels right for the part now that we’ve built the whole story.’ He’s really been somebody who’s wanted to be involved in the franchise for a really long time, and we’ve built the story up with him.”
So essentially, Leto was legacied into Tron: Ares, utilizing some of the goodwill from earlier in his career to get a foot in the door long before everything soured for him. It remains to be seen if Tron: Ares will find the kind of commercial success that proved so elusive for the prior two installments in the series, but one cannot imagine that having a lead actor who is a walking controversy and the face of the extremely public failure that was Morbius on the poster is helping its chances very much.
Tron: Ares releases in theaters on October 10.