Could Tron's legacy live on? Film's director thinks there's 'a future for the franchise'

There was almost a 30-year gap between the release of Tron and its direct sequel, Tron: Legacy. Based on that timeline, we shouldn't rule out another entry in the Disney-owned franchise just yet. 

Recently chatting with ComicBook.com, Legacy director Joseph Kosinski voiced his hopes for more Tron content in the future.

"There's always been an interest since Legacy [for a sequel]. There's always been talk and murmuring of doing another and continuing the story," he said. "I think it's still a nice jewel in the crown of Disney IP, and I think there are fans and people petitioning and pushing to continue it inside the halls of Disney. So, I think it could happen. ... It's all about timing and the right elements and everything's got to come together for a movie to happen."

Credit: Disney

The filmmaker, who also directed Oblivion and Only the Brave, added that "there's enough ideas in the franchise, and the fact that it is so unique and nothing else looks or sounds like it, that Tron story. There is, I think, a future for the franchise and I hope they keep making them."

A TV show based on the films was allegedly in early development for Disney+. Last month, however, it was confirmed that the Mouse House decided to scrap the project before it was even announced. If the company does revisit the property down the road, Kosinski believes that it will have to "push the envelope in some way, or in every way."

He cited the groundbreaking nature of the 1982 original from writer/director Steven Lisberger, which was one of the first movies to totally embrace the novelty of CGI. The digital VFX were so mindblowing, in fact, that the Oscars famously disqualified the movie from the special-effects category, claiming that the use of computers was akin to cheating.

Kosinski notes that Lisberger's ideas for the original film "were so ahead of their time," per ComicBook.com, and adds that the franchise is so ambitious, he doesn't "see Tron being something where you pump one out every two years. You just can't. They're too hard to make. It's got to be a passion project and it's got to really be reaching for something different and innovative and ambitious, because that's in the DNA of it."

The first movie followed Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a computer programmer who is sucked into a virtual world and forced to overcome a series of deadly trials in order to survive. Legacy focused on Kevin's son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), although Bridges did return to reprise his character.

Kosinski, meanwhile, re-teams with Oblivion star Tom Cruise for Top Gun: Maverick, another long-awaited sequel to a 1980s classic. Originally set to open this summer, the movie has been delayed until late December amid the coronavirus pandemic.