Tron: Ares star Jodie Turner-Smith talks Athena, AI and her villain era

The Tron franchise has always been a fever dream of light, sound, and identity - a digital world pulsing with human questions.

- Husain Rizvi

More than a decade after Tron: Legacy made Daft Punk's synths the heartbeat of cyber cinema, Disney is returning to the grid - and this time, it's breaking out of it. Tron: Ares, directed by Joachim Rønning (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) and led by Jared Leto, promises to push the series into new territory. Among the powerful new figures stepping into this electrified universe is Jodie Turner-Smith - and in true Jodie fashion, she's bringing both style and soul.

When City Times sat down with her to talk about the upcoming film over Zoom, she lit up at the mere mention of Tron. "I was a fan of the franchise before the film," she said. "Tron: Legacy, that was my movie - it had such a distinct and incredible look and feel and sound with that Daft Punk soundtrack. And it was just, it was cool, you know. Tron was already in my orbit. So when this came along, I was thrilled at the opportunity to step into something that has such an incredible and profound legacy."