Eckhart told MTV News on the red carpet outside the Spirit Awards:
”I was just with Chris, and he's pretty tight-lipped about things,"
Nolan's third Batman movie will include Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, best known in the Batman universe for her villainess alter ego Catwoman.
Eckhart expressed high hopes for her:
"I think Anne Hathaway is going to be wonderful"
Eckhart made himself available last year, just in case Nolan had a change of heart, but now that the script is getting finished, and the big remaining casting searches seem to be limited to females, it's probably safe to consider Eckhart politely and amicably finished as a Bat-villain.
The closest he would come to complaining about his absence from "TDKR" was to joke about sucker-punching Nolan after hearing that Harvey Dent wouldn't appear.