'Tron: Legacy' Sequel in Motion with New Writer (Exclusive)

David DiGilio has been tapped to write the sequel to Tron: Legacy.

At the same time, the scribe has sold a pitch for post-apocalyptic sci-fi series to Showtime titled Last H.O.P.E.

The Tron project is an intriguing proposition for the studio. Despite Tron: Legacy's high cost and lukewarm response from certain quarters, it grossed more than $400 million worldwide, not enough of a slamdunk to make a sequel an automatic go but enough to show an interest in that world exists.

Also helping would be the R&D that went into building Legacy, whose base of designs and technology would serve to lower the costs of any sequel.

Adam Horowitz and Adam Kitsis, who worked on Legacy, were slated to return but got waylaid by Once Upon a Time, the fairy tale show they created for ABC and is debuting this fall.

The vacancy allowed DiGilio to slide in with a take that would build on the first two movies.

But part of the decision to ultimately move forward on a third movie may rest on the performance of Tron Uprising, the animated show which will air on Disney XD next year.

Since it is early in the development process, it's unclear whether Joseph Kosinski would return to the director's chair.

On DiGilio's TV front, Last H.O.P.E. stands for Last Hospital On Planet Earth. Loglines are being kept under wraps but it is described as being a cross of Mad Max and M.A.S.H.

DiGilio came out of Disney's writers program and wrote Eight Below, the Paul Walker canine nature adventure, for the studio. He also created Traveler, the 2007 terrorist thriller show which starred Matt Bomer.

The writer, repped by UTA and manager Stephen Crawford, is currenlty writing techno thriller Daemon with producer Walter Parkes, which marks the latter's first return to the keyboard since 1992's Sneakers.