The world of Tron returns to theaters next week with Tron: Ares, and it’s a world that’s much more complex than you may realize. Ares is the third film in the Tron franchise, which has also included an animated TV show, games, comics, and more. All of which works because in 1982, writer-director Steven Lisberger created this way-ahead-of-its-time computer world, with its own rules, language, and more.

Tron is all about world-building, both on screen and off . And short of sitting down to watch the previous two films ( which, of course, we always recommend you do ), we wanted to give you some of the basic story, characters, and rules of the world so you can jump into Tron: Ares on October 10 like a fully fledged user. Here we go.

The Grid

Imagine there’s a world inside

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