Over 40 years after the original film hit theaters, Tron: Ares opened to mixed reviews. Intended to revitalize the franchise, the film stars Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson. Franchise mainstay Jeff Bridges also reprises his role for a brief portion of the film.

In an interview with ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley, Peters and Anderson discussed how the Tron trilogy often traces itself back to the same set of real-world villains: the Dillinger family. After Peters confirmed his character, Julian Dillinger, is evil, Anderson, who played his mother, explained: “Whether he’s known it or not, historically the Dillingers have not been completely morally sound in their actions.”

“That must vibrate somewhere in the family history and dynamics he will have had,” Anderson continued. “For me to have taken over the company and run it for 10 years and brought it up to where it sits profitability wise means that I probably wasn’t very present. And so having a present mom around who particularly, is maybe not very affectionate anyway, might be a little bit damaging and concerning, and it is clear even in their first exchange that there are certain expectations that she has on him that might be hard to maintain.“

The actress concluded: “So any of those things might have a bit of an impact, but he’s got a very fun playground and has taken the reign, so why not take advantage if he’s got the brain that he has and the capabilities that he has? Why not take advantage of it?“

Throughout Tron: Ares, Anderson’s Elisabeth Dillinger serves as something of a moral compᴀss for Julian, until his actions lead to her death. The actress’ comments present an interesting context for that dynamic, one that implies that maybe Elisabeth sees where she went wrong with Julian.

As she noted, the Dillinger family have historically served as antagonists. Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner, stole Kevin Flynn’s (Bridges) code to gain multiple unearned promotions within ENCOM. He was the creator of Commander Sark and the corrupter of the Master Control Program.

In Tron: Legacy, the Dillingers were less plot-relevant, but they were still represented. Cillian Murphy had a bit part as Edward Dillinger Jr, Ed’s son and Elisabeth’s brother who worked as a software designer at ENCOM. Blu-ray extras for Tron: Legacy revealed that Edward Jr. was conspiring with a digitized version of his father, but this was never followed up on.

A common thread across the Tron films is that the Dillinger family has a toxic drive to be powerful and wealthy, something Julian’s arc epitomizes. It will be interesting to see how his story continues after Tron: Ares, given his digitized fate at the end of the film.