'Tron' casts Garrett Hedlund

Garrett Hedlund's career is about to take off with the leading role in "Tron."

Credit: AP/Henny Ray Abram

The long awaited “Tron’” sequel has a leading man and it’s a major surprise: Garrett Hedlund.

Off the radar for a few years, Hedlund made a name for himself starring in Peter Berg’s “Friday Night Lights,” “Eragon” and as Lindsay Lohan’s love interest in “Georgia Rule.”  Considering the anticipation among hardcore geeks for this project and the franchise potential for Walt Disney Studios, to say Hedlund is getting a second chance at superstardom is an understatement.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hedlund will play a young man pulled into the computerized world made famous by the original 1982 “Tron.”  His character will retrace the steps of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) from the original film. 
As suspected by the video teased at Comic-Con this past summer, Jeff Bridges is reprising his role as Flynn, who was a computer programmer but is now the CEO of a software corporation.  Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett have also been cast in the project.

Intriguingly, the film, which was rumored to be called “Tron 2” or “Tr2n” will no simply go by “Tron” (how un-Fox marketing of Disney). 

Also of note, the studio also cast a wide search for the role meeting with Ryan Gosling and Chris Pine.  The trade also reports Michael Stahl-David (“Cloverfield”) screen-tested for the role.

Joseph Kosinski is still on board to direct and Steven Lisberger, who co-wrote and directed the original, will produce along with Sean Bailey and Jeff Silver. 

Production is expected to begin this spring for an as yet-announced 2010 release.