From playing the doomed queen in AMC+’s Anne Boleyn to a romantic fugitive in Queen Slim, Jodie Turner-Smith is no stranger to visually striking projects and physically demanding roles. Still, stepping into the digital world of Tron: Ares took her to a new frontier.
In Tron: Ares, the long-awaited new chapter in Disney’s cult sci-fi saga, Turner-Smith plays Athena, a sophisticated computer program. The film picks up in a new era for the Grid, the multinational computer corporation helmed by Jeff Bridges’s Kevin Flynn in the 1982 original, with software engineer Eve Kim (Greta Lee) now in command. Against the franchise’s signature neon-lit backdrop, the film, out on October 10, considers questions of consciousness, technology, and power.
Athena, Turner-Smith says, “kicks ass—and I’m glad for people to get to see that.” The role also demanded the most physical preparation of any that she’s done so far—although, to hear her tell it, the process was thrilling. (When we speak, she’s literally hopping on a bike to get to the Mandarin Oriental hotel—eschewing the ease of a car in favor of movement and independence.) “The most important thing is I’m having a lot of fun in my career,” she says. “That’s really my goal.”
Vogue: You’re biking now, and there’s an incredible motorcycle sequence in the movie. Did you get to ride at all, or was it mostly a stunt double?
Jodie Turner-Smith: The actual Light Cycles—we got to ride on them, but they’re just pulled by a trailer. They’re not fully functioning motorbikes. So for those scenes dipping through the city, even though I do have my motorcycle license, I left it in the hands of my incredibly talented riding double.
Were you a Tron fan? How familiar were you with the Tron universe before stepping into this role?
I really come from the Tron: Legacy generation. I had an awareness of the original Tron, but I actually didn’t watch the first movie until this project. What’s amazing about Tron is how groundbreaking it’s always been—sort of ahead of its time.
The first movie—what, from 1982?—really changed the landscape of filmmaking. What they were doing had never been seen before, using computer-generated imagery in a way that was revolutionary. At the time, people didn’t always give it credit; they called it “cheating” to use CGI. And now, of course, here we are.
What were your first thoughts when you saw the script?
When I first saw the script, I thought it was really, really funny. I loved the humor—I think people are going to find it genuinely hilarious. I also love films like this, where so much of it is conceptual and done with graphics; it makes it so visually interesting. These are the kinds of movies people go to for fun, you know?
When I read the script, I saw both the humor and the heart, and that really appealed to me. And, honestly, it helped that Joachim [Rønning, the director] told me Athena was one of his favorite characters. When the director says something like that, it makes you even more excited to play the role.
I was going through your filmography and trying to figure out if you’ve played a villain before this.
First of all, Athena is not a villain. Every villain always has a story that justified their existence, which is why I think it’s so entertaining to watch movies where we take traditional villain characters and tell their story, like Cruella or like Maleficent. Nobody ever truly starts as a villain, and you can obviously empathize with and humanize anyone. Athena is really principled. She’s the other side of the coin—what happens if AI begins to gain a consciousness that tells it to override whatever a human is telling them to do. Otherwise, Bad Monkey’s Dragon Queen was the first time I played a character with questionable motives—but even she was justified.
Athena is carrying out her orders to their logical conclusion.
She was created by somebody with a dark spirit and energy, which was something that really interested me about this film, too. It opens up conversations about what can happen when artificial intelligence falls into the wrong hands. Will humanity use it to wreak havoc? It feels very current. What happens when you are prompting artificial intelligence in certain ways?
I don’t know if you saw the article about Grok AI and how people were essentially training it to become antisemitic. It makes you wonder: If someone with hateful intentions—whether they’re white supremacist, antisemitic, or homophobic—is prompting an AI with those ideas, is the AI just reflecting that? Arguing against it? And why would it, if it has no consciousness of its own?
Do you use AI in your day-to-day life?
It’s really good at helping to get organized, so I use it for those kinds of tasks—not anything creative. But I am also very aware of the water usage involved with these artificial-intelligence systems. That’s also really scary. Are we just draining the planet of water as we use ChatGPT?
You’ve worked across a wide range of genres, including action. How did playing Athena in Tron stretch you differently as an actor?
Every job stretches you differently, just because it’s never the same role. It is never the same state of mind that you are being asked to take on. Obviously, no matter what action things I’ve done, none of them have involved riding a Light Cycle. I’ve never played a computer program; that was new.
I’ve never trained this intensely for a role before—and it was amazing. Not just for my mental health, because exercise is so good for that, but also for my body. Having both a strong mind and a strong body really supported me. What’s funny is, I always told people during production that I was training for the stunts—but really, I was training so I could wear that suit.
Tell me about that.
I’m definitely a Pilates girl. I did that and weightlifting. The suit puts a lot of pressure on your body—not only wearing it and putting it on, but also doing any kind of movement. The suit is, in many ways, kind of working against you, so you have to be really mindful so that you don’t get hurt. When you need to run, jump, or even get on a wire, it gets intense. It’s heavy, but I felt ready. People really discount how physically taxing it can be to do the job. Even without this super suit, it’s a lot of hours on your feet and standing or running. It’s really wonderful when a studio will invest in keeping your body strong to make it through production. This might have been six weeks of night shoots in downtown Vancouver in the winter.
I imagine that putting on the costume really shaped the way you carried. The fact that she couldn’t move almost feels metaphoric.
Absolutely. Spiritual and emotional meanings abounded.
Did the futuristic look of Tron spark any ideas about your personal style offscreen?
I think I tend to be relatively experimental with my style. But I would say the style of Athena and the film is definitely very inspirational for [the promotion cycle]. I’m very excited to collaborate with Law Roach and come up with some interesting looks to sell this movie.
What was it like working with Jared Leto—who’s known to go Method—as Ares? Was he acting like a computer program on set?
That wasn’t really my experience with him. Honestly, I was kind of hoping he’d go full Method—I would have loved it if he had sent me a Light Cycle! I think because we knew each other through fashion beforehand, it probably made the dynamic different for me. But my experience was that he was a comrade-in-arms on set. Maybe that’s why it felt like we could have that kind of relationship during filming.
And what was your relationship with Greta like? Did you know her before working on the film?
I didn’t know her well, but I had met her while she was promoting Past Lives. I was actually invited to host a Q&A for the film, and I watched it several times before meeting her. I was already a fan of her work. After I’d been cast [in Tron: Ares] and they were still looking for Eve, I actually reached out to Joachim, Jared, and some of the producers and said, “Have you seen [Past Lives]? She’s amazing, and I think she would be perfect for the role.” I don’t know how influential that was, but I guess I could take credit for it [joking]. I was definitely in her corner to get the role. They were probably looking at her anyway because she’s done such such great work: Russian Doll and all the other things that she’s done that are amazing. I think it always feels good when other members of the cast are excited about someone you’re looking at.
This Tron cast is notably diverse. What does it mean to you, as a Black woman, to take up space in a hyper-futuristic, cyber world that Hollywood has so often imagined in a narrow way?
Black people love this stuff just as much as anyone else. I’ve already had messages from friends sharing what this movie has meant to them. And it’s not just that it’s a sci-fi or fantasy film—it’s part of a franchise with a long history and a dedicated following. Being part of something that resonates with people, sometimes from their childhood, makes it even more special.
It’s so important to represent the world as it really is and to tell stories that include more people—as heroes and as villains. Representation matters for young people, too—when you see yourself reflected on screen, you can imagine yourself as the hero of your own story.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
In this story: hair, Yasmin Amira; makeup, Susie Sobol.