‘Tron: Ares’ First Footage: Light Bikes, Jeff Bridges Returns and New Music From Nine Inch Nails

The grid is back online.

Disney unveiled the first footage of “Tron: Ares,” the third film in the sci-fi franchise about a world of virtual reality based inside a computer mainframe. Cast members Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Greta Lee and Jeff Bridges unveiled the first look on Friday night during Disney’s marathon presentation of its upcoming slate during the D23 Expo.

At the end of the footage, a title card revealed that the score was composed by Nine Inch Nails, the industrial rock and electronica band founded by Trent Reznor and joined in 2016 by frequent film score collaborator Atticus Ross.

Leto stars in the film as Ares, one of the programs from the digital universe who is tasked to enter the real world. Lee plays Eve Kim, a human character who is, Lee said, “a brilliant programmer whose greatest work provides a path for ares to come into our world.” Peters plays Julian Dillinger, who shares a last name with the villain of the first “Tron” film, first released in 1982.

“Dillinger doesn’t always mean great things for those on the grid,” Peters said.

The footage opens with Dillinger holding forth on the future of humanity during a keynote presentation. “Since time began, man has gazed at the stars and wondered, am I alone?” he says. “Turns out we’ve been looking in the wrong direction, because intelligent life does exist — but it’s not out there, it’s in here. So much talk of AI and big tech, virtual worlds, when are we gonna get there. Well folks, we’re not going. They are coming here.”

Joachim Rønning (“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”) is directing from a script by Jesse Wigutow and Jack Thorne. The film costars Jodie Turner-Smith, Gillian Anderson, Hasan Minaj, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan and Sarah Desjardins.

“Technology and AI is especially omnipresent in all our lives,” Bridges said before the footage screened. “What a perfect time to revisit this amazing world. More appropriately, to have this amazing world visit us.”

“Tron: Ares” is a continuation of one of the longest running (and unlikeliest) film trilogies in modern film history. Although a box office disappointment, “Tron,” from writer-director Steven Lisberger, was heralded as the first feature film to make extensive use of computer generated imagery. The story follows a video game developer, Kevin Flynn (Bridges), who is unwittingly zapped into a cutthroat digital universe. Bridges reprised the role when Disney revived the franchise with 2010’s “Tron: Legacy,” the directorial debut of future “Top Gun: Maverick” filmmaker Joseph Kosinski.