TRON Legacy hit theaters in 2010, and the fact that the movie exists at all is kind of a miracle. It came 28 years after the original TRON, and it was a project that had been kicked around Disney for a long time. Somehow, the demand of fans led to TRON Legacy actually being made, and it took us back to the world of The Grid, albeit in a much more sleek and technologically sophisticated fashion than the early computer animation of the 1980s original allowed.

However, TRON Legacy didn’t exactly land with as big of a splash as Disney might have hoped. Sure, the movie made over $400 million worldwide, but that was on a budget of $170 million, and that’s probably not including the marketing costs. The movie also only has a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, and only 63% from the audience ratings. That made the likelihood of seeing TRON 3 come to fruition that much more unlikely, but co-producer Justin Springer hasn’t given up hope yet.

/Film’s Peter Sciretta had the opportunity to speak with Springer while making the publicity rounds for Dumbo (in theaters later this month), and the conversation eventually turned to the possibility of TRON 3 ever coming back around. (Note: Dumbo writer Ehren Kruger also happened to be around for this line of questioning, but he doesn’t have any involvement with the TRON franchise; he merely offered his perspective as an industry veteran who has franchise experience with Transformers, Scream, and The Ring).

Justin Springer: Look, I will never stop being interested in making a TRON movie. I love the opportunity to do it. It’s a title that never really goes away internally. There’s always people around the company who like it a whole lot. And so, we’ll see what happens. It would be great to get the opportunity to do it again. It’s interesting – what I will say is that I think it continues to be relevant both in its ideas and also just the visual iconography of it. I think people are still are interested in it and it still feels contemporary to me. So it’s just about finding the right time, right script, and the right people at the studio saying “yes.” You know, just the usual. Ehren Kruger: All you need is for fans to demand it, just like last time. Justin Springer: That’s right!

Indeed, it was fans who were a big part of pushing TRON Legacy towards its greenlight. However, I can’t help but wonder if those fans were part of a smaller vocal group that Disney executives paid attention to back when the crowds at Comic-Con seemed to have more influence as to what was going to be a big success. Studios have since realized that there’s not as much to be gleaned from the fandom at Comic-Con and that fiercely passionate fanbases don’t always translate to profitable properties.

But as our own Peter Sciretta pointed out during the interview, there’s a TRON roller coaster being opened in various theme parks around the globe, so there has to be some sustained interest in the franchise. Springer replied, “I wish you were in charge.”

Maybe fans will just have to wait another 28 years until the next TRON sequel comes back around, and by then we’ll all have lightcycles of our own. And we won’t be living here because the planet will be gone. Then we’ll actually be living on the grid. And TRON 3 will be about escaping into a world that’s more real. Whoa.