Los Angeles – Christopher Nolan will make his forthcoming Batman movie his last.
The Inception director has confirmed The Dark Knight Rises – which will see Christian Bale play the superhero for the third time – will be the last time he will direct the movie series.
He told Entertainment Weekly: "I feel very glad that I'm doing another Batman film. I think it would have been daunting to sit down and write an original script after Inception. I love working within the realm and rules of our Batman world. It's kind of nice to have someplace to go that I'm super-excited about.
"I must say that I'm glad – I'm very, very glad – to be embarking on the last chapter of our Batman saga without any sense of obligation or duty to the studio.
"They did very well with Inception. So I'm able to go into finishing our story in a very enthusiastic way."
The 40-year-old filmmaker has previously revealed the movie will not feature the classic Batman enemy Riddler as some people had expected.
He said: "It won't be the Riddler. We'll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we'll be introducing some new ones."