D23 2024: Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross to succeed Daft Punk’s iconic original score for ‘Tron: Ares’

Nine Inch Nails to compose score for Tron: Ares, continuing legacy of genre-defining film music collaborations.

At Disney’s D23 event in Anaheim on August 9, it was revealed that Nine Inch Nails (NIN) will compose the score for the highly anticipated film Tron: Ares. The announcement was made by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who appeared during a teaser showcasing the sci-fi sequel. This marks the first time the Oscar-winning duo’s film music will be credited under the Nine Inch Nails name, a departure from their usual film scoring collaborations.

The selection of Nine Inch Nails for Tron: Ares comes with high expectations, given the impact of the previous film, Tron: Legacy, which featured a genre-defining score by Daft Punk. Reznor and Ross are renowned for their work in film music, with notable scores including The Social Network, Soul, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Their partnership began in 2010 with The Social Network, and they have since collaborated on numerous projects, with Ross officially joining NIN as a band member in 2016.

In 2010, Hollywood saw a bold evolution in film scores as two popular musical duos, unfamiliar with film composition, were chosen to create iconic original scores. Joseph Kosinski enlisted Daft Punk for Tron: Legacy, while David Fincher brought Nine Inch Nails on board for The Social Network. Both scores, blending each group’s unique electronic styles with orchestral elements, received widespread acclaim. However, the Academy’s focus on critical acclaim led to an Oscar win for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, with Daft Punk not even being considered for a nomination. Now, 14 years after Tron: Legacy, three years after Daft Punk’s retirement, and following a second Oscar win for Reznor and Ross (with a potential third for Challengers), the duo is set to score Tron: Ares.

The D23 event also included a brief onstage appearance by Reznor and Ross, adding to the excitement surrounding the film. The teaser footage for Tron: Ares was accompanied by a dramatic red laser reveal of the NIN logo, confirming the band’s involvement in the soundtrack. The sequel, directed by Joachim Rønning, stars Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Jeff Bridges, Greta Lee, and Jodie Turner-Smith, and is set to hit theaters on October 10, 2025. It continues the story from the 2010 film Tron: Legacy, which was itself a follow-up to the original Tron released in 1982.

In Tron: Ares, Jared Leto plays Ares, a program from the digital universe who ventures into the real world. Greta Lee’s character, Eve Kim, is a brilliant programmer whose work provides a gateway for Ares to enter our world. Evan Peters portrays Julian Dillinger, a character sharing a name with the villain from the original Tron film. Peters hinted at the ominous nature of Dillinger, stating, “Dillinger doesn’t always mean great things for those on the grid.”

The film’s teaser features Dillinger discussing the future of humanity and the arrival of intelligent life from within digital realms, setting the stage for the movie’s exploration of AI and virtual worlds.

Nine Inch Nails will contribute both new songs and a score for Tron: Ares. Their last album, Ghost VI: Locusts, was released in 2020. Alongside Tron: Ares, Reznor and Ross are also working on scores for Luca Guadagnino’s Queer and Scott Derrickson’s sci-fi thriller The Gorge, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller.