The Dude brought the Grid to San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
Jeff Bridges walked out to wild applause at the convention panel for Tron: Ares on Friday, riffing on his iconic line from The Big Lebowski after being teed up by host Kevin Smith. “The Grid abides,” he declared to an adoring crowd.
Ares marks Bridges’ first movie performance since 2018’s Bad Times at the El Royale, and his second screen performance (following FX’s The Old Man) since he was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. He famously starred as computer programmer Kevin Flynn in the original Tron, which hit theaters in 1982.
The rest of the starry Ares cast — Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson — joined the 75-year-old Oscar winner on stage. So did Steven Lisberger, the creator of Tron, and Ares director Joachim Rønning.
Disney
Jeff Bridges in ‘Tron: Aries’
Before the cast came out on stage, the Hall H audience was treated to a clip from the film, which showed Bridges from the original Tron playing an arcade game, along with other SFX shots from the groundbreaking movie. Scenes from Ares then played, including futuristic helicopters, new footage, and a speech from Peters that was featured in a recent trailer.
“It’s not so much that Tron was ahead of its time,” Lisberger told the crowd, “it’s that everyone else was late.”
Bridges later confided that Leto wanted to be called by his character’s name, Ares, on set, and that he tried to get familiar with him, calling him “Ar.” To which Leto, who professed to being a big fan of Bridges’, replied, “You can call me whatever you want.”
“I just wanted to ride a light cycle,” added Lee, referring to the franchise’s signature neon bikes.
Bridges went on to poke fun at Leto’s infamous Method acting approach, calling him “a thesbo,” which drew laughs from the audience.
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After the banter, more footage from the upcoming film was shown, including a light cycle chase scene.
The original Tron pioneered CGI special effects four decades ago, and eventually inspired the 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy. The franchise has also spawned the animated series Tron: Uprising; multiple Disney Parks rides; and a number of video games, comics, and novels.
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty
Jeff Bridges arrives at the ‘Tron: Ares’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con
While the previous two Tron movies primarily followed human characters who are sucked into the world of the titular video game, Tron: Ares will see AI beings invade the real world for the first time.
In theaters Oct. 10, Tron: Ares also boasts a soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails, following in the footsteps of Legacy‘s electrifying Daft Punk score.
Check out more of EW’s coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
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