Emma Thomas confirms beyond any doubt that The Dark Knight Rises will be Christopher Nolan's last Batman film...

"Do you think he's coming back?"

"I don't know."

That poignant exchange from the latest The Dark Knight Rises trailer applies not only to Batman in the film (since it presumably takes place towards the beginning, when the other characters don't know if he'll return following the events of The Dark Knight; though perhaps the context could be different), but also to writer-director Christopher Nolan.

Nolan has previously stated his intention to make The Dark Knight Rises a fitting conclusion to the trilogy, and thus his last Batman film, though some fans held out hope that he might eventually be persuaded to return for a fourth film. Now, that question has been definitively answered, by his wife and producer Emma Thomas, who said:

"No. Never...No, that's truly a never. I can't imagine a world in which he would ever want to come back."

Fortunately, she didn't then break Bat-fans' hearts by saying "Because he hates Batman.", but rather followed it with:

"At a certain point it's fun to go off and do something different, you know. We've spent almost 10 years of our lives making Batman films...The great thing about a trilogy is that it feels like you've got a beginning, middle and an end. It's like an extended version of a regular film. Once you get into a fourth film then it's just episodic..."

So there you have it. Short of someone doing an Inception on him, Christopher Nolan won't make any more Batman films ever. And presumably that also means that Emma Thomas, and Chris' brother and co-writer Jonathan Nolan, and maybe also co-writer David Goyer, won't be returning to the franchise either.

But before you go off and stand in a corner brooding for several hours, remember that we still have The Dark Knight Rises to look forward to. In IMAX!

And at some point in the future, there'll be a cinematic Batman reboot, just as many different writers and artists have told different Batman stories in the comics over all these years. Even if no-one else can match Nolan's take on the franchise, the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman is an enduring, iconic one, with plenty of potential for stories to tell. Besides, wouldn't it be cool to see Batman as part of a live-action Justice League movie someday?

And besides, as cool a character as Batman is, there's more to life than Batman.

Though no doubt some fans won't be listening, because they'll be too busy feeling like this ingenious piece of marketing discovered by /Film:

See also:

The untold story between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises

Leonardo DiCaprio could have played The Riddler in The Dark Knight Rises

An analysis of the new posters for The Dark Knight Rises

5 lessons DC could learn from Marvel, movie-wise

3 + 1 = Poor: Four trilogies that took it too far

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