'Tron: Legacy' director Joseph Kosinski remains hopeful for 'Tron 3'

Joseph Kosinski, the director of 2010’s Tron: Legacy says there continues to be discussions about Tron 3 at Disney.

“There's always been an interest since [Tron] Legacy,” the filmmaker told Comicbook.com in a new interview. “There's always been talk and murmuring of doing another and continuing the story.”

Former commercials director Kosinski, who is currently in post-production on Top Gun: Maverick, made his feature directing debut with Legacy, a sequel to Disney’s cult 1982 film. It was a modest hit taking $400 million (£319 million) against a reported budget of $170 million, and talks of a third film began almost immediately after its release. Legacy screenwriters Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis were signed up to pen the screenplay.

Read more: Jeff Bridges looks back at making Tron

It seemed to be close to start of production in April 2015 with Kosinski returning alongside Legacy stars Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund, and was scheduled to shoot in Vancouver that autumn, before Disney pulled the plug at the eleventh hour.

Kosinski tells Comicbook.com that the brand is still seen as “a nice jewel in the crown of Disney IP” and that a third film “could happen” if all the elements came together at the right time.

“I think it's possible and I think it's worthy of it. I think there's enough in the franchise and the ideas, and the fact that it is so unique and nothing else looks or sounds like it, that Tron the story. There is, I think, a future for the franchise and I hope they keep making them.”

A spin-off series, scripted by 12 Years A Slave screenwriter John Ridley, was reportedly in development for Disney+, but that was recently scrapped after it fell apart during development. Jared Leto was also linked with starring in a new film set in the same universe, but that seems to have gone quiet too.

Whatever path the series chooses to take next, Kosinski says it must be one that uses filmmaking technology in a new and interesting way.

“Whenever a Tron comes out it needs to push the envelope in some way, or in every way. That's a fundamental requirement of a Tron movie, is it needs to be ambitious on a filmmaking level and hopefully on a narrative level, and the ideas behind it.”

Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick will come to cinemas on 23 December, 2020. Tron: Legacy is now streaming on Disney+.