Cillian Murphy made a cameo appearance in 2010's TRON: Legacy as Edward Dillinger, Jr., the son of original TRON antagonist Ed Dillinger, Sr. The idea had been for him to serve as the big bad in filmmaker Joseph Kosinski's unmade threequel, TRON: Ascension.
That movie ultimately morphed into Joachim Rønning's 2025 box office bomb, TRON: Ares. With Murphy now incredibly selective about the projects he stars in, it was obvious that he wouldn't be back. So, the character was swapped for Evan Peters' Julian Dillinger, Ed Sr.'s grandson.
He ultimately transformed into the villainous Sark, the Games Master from 1982's TRON. The original Sark served the Master Control Program, but is Sark 2.0 calling the shots in The Grid or still in servitude to another digital big bad? With a fourth movie unlikely to happen, we may never get an answer to that and many other unanswered questions.
Concept artist Phil Saunders was among those who worked on TRON: Ares, and he's now revealed (via SFFGazette.com) a piece he was tasked with designing in a bid to convince Murphy to play Sark.
"One of the first things Production Designer Darren Gilford asked me to tackle on TRON: Legacy was a quick illustration of Cillian Murphy as the new Sark," he writes. "I think it was meant to lure him to the production to reprise his role as the junior Dillinger. Given his absence from the movie, I hope this [illustration] isn’t the reason he passed!"
"As Moebius has always been a huge hero of mine (and a kinder, more gracious soul I’ve never met), I was thrilled to do a variation on his iconic costume. As usual, I rough out a few variations and am pleased when my favourite is selected."
Saunders also shared some insights into how TRON: Ascension became TRON: Ares, and how original plans for Jared Leto in the former ultimately evolved into what we saw in theaters last year. The designs below were created in collaboration with Kosinski before he moved on, and offer some insights into what might have been had his movie moved forward as planned.
TRON: Ares follows a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind's first encounter with A.I. beings.
The movie stars Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson. Joachim Rønning directs; producers are Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver, Justin Springer, Leto, Emma Ludbrook and Steven Lisberger.
TRON: Ares is now available on Digital, 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and Disney+.