Disney announced today that they have cast Garrett Hedlund as the lead in the sequel to the 1982 film Tron. It appears that this new film, due to begin shooting this spring, will also now be called Tron after originally going by Tron 2 and Tr2n. I’m glad they dropped the second one as it was pretty silly. Hedlund’s as yet unnamed character will follow in the footsteps of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a computer programmer who was digitized into a computer mainframe in the original film. Bridges returns for the sequel as does Bruce Boxleitner, who played the titular Tron in the original. Directed by Joseph Kosinski the new version will also star Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett.
Hedlund is considered to be a rising star having previously appearing in Troy, Friday Night Lights, Four Brothers, Eragon and Georgia Rule. This should prove to be a huge boon for his career as he won the role over several other big names that have already risen. Since this film is being overseen by the original’s writer and director, Steven Lisberger, I’m going to trust that the studio and producers are going to do right by the first film. Tron holds a special place in any geek of a certain age’s heart as the advent to CGI films. It showed us what computers could do and, while it may seem quaintly archaic nowadays, it wowed me and many others over twenty-five years ago. 2011 suddenly seems like a long time from now.
