I clicked into Phil Saunders’ ArtStation and stopped mid-scroll. A dark, angular suit waited there, tagged to a name everyone wanted back. For a beat, the movie that never happened felt audible.
I’ve chased design leaks and studio whispers long enough that you can trust me when I say: concept art isn’t idle doodling. You and I both know a single image can tilt a production, change casting conversations, and haunt fandom timelines.
On Phil Saunders’ ArtStation a Cillian Murphy silhouette surfaced
That page showed a version of Tron: Ares where Ed Dillinger Jr. would become the new Sark. Saunders posted concept work suggesting the team explored making Murphy “the new Sark” — a direct lineage from the villain his father created in the original Tron.
The artwork did more than flirt; it operated as a pitch. Saunders later explained the pieces were partly tactical, meant to lure Murphy back to the production. The concept art was a siren, calling actors back into the water.
Was Cillian Murphy in Tron: Ares?
No — not in the finished film. Murphy appears in 2010’s Tron: Legacy as Ed Dillinger Jr., and the Ares concept teased a much bigger return, but the actor ultimately passed on reprising the role.
On a production desk the Sark mantle moved to a new character
Once Murphy declined, the film handed the Sark transformation to Julian Dillinger, played by Evan Peters. You’ve seen the moment: Julian slips into the Grid to evade police and the Sark disc resolves into armor around him in the post-credits sting.
That post-credits Sark disc was a gauntlet thrown at the audience — brief, provocative, and intended to keep a thread alive for future installments. In the version Saunders teased, though, the emotional weight would have flowed through a returning Murphy, and that shift would have changed the stakes for fans who wanted lineage and legacy.
Why didn’t Cillian Murphy return for Tron: Ares?
Saunders framed his concept art as part of an effort to recruit Murphy: a visual olive branch that might persuade the actor to come back. When Murphy declined, the creative team pivoted; the idea remained in fragments on ArtStation and in behind-the-scenes posts, but it never reached completion on screen.
On Saunders’ feed you can see other set pieces that nearly made the cut
Saunders didn’t stop at the Sark suit: he shared images of a Recognizer crashing into the city, Dillinger’s take on the Skimmer, the Grid Portal, and Ares’ bike helmet. Each piece reads like a storyboard for tone and motion rather than static design.
You can explore the designs yourself on Saunders’ ArtStation pages — the Sark tease, the Recognizer crash, the Skimmer experiments, and the Grid Portal — where he also explains technique, from coaxial-cable inspiration for portal beams to reusing Legacy effects for a Skimmer rez-up. Links: Sark concept, Recognizer crash, Dillinger Skimmer, Grid Portal, Phil Saunders portfolio.
Will Cillian Murphy ever return to the Tron universe?
It’s possible — studios circle back to ideas all the time — but Murphy’s involvement would require a change in priorities at the studio level and the actor’s schedule and appetite. For now, the Sark thread lives as an invitation rather than a promise.
I’m not here to sell certainty; I’m here to point at the evidence. Saunders’ work shows how a single creative decision can be used as leverage, how concept art becomes both marketing and negotiation.
Scrapped early concept art of Cillian Murphy as the new Sark in “”TRON: ARES”” ! ! !
• As cool as he looks in that suit i can’t even imagine how sick his role would’ve been as the new sark wich is just such missed opportunity.
(Via: @saundersphil)#TronAres #TRON pic.twitter.com/k6uUJKk6Cw
— Ground Breaker ☲ (@GroundBreaker50) February 19, 2026
The story here isn’t a single image or a single decision — it’s how design, casting, and publicity talk to each other. You can trace influence from Tron: Legacy, through Saunders’ ArtStation posts, all the way to the film’s post-credits tease and the fan debate that followed.
If a piece of concept art can reopen the argument about who should carry a franchise, who truly owns that narrative now?