THE DARK KNIGHT Writer Jonathan Nolan Says He'd "Absolutely" Return To BATMAN Franchise If Opportunity Arises

THE DARK KNIGHT Writer Jonathan Nolan Says He'd "Absolutely" Return To BATMAN Franchise If Opportunity Arises

The Dark Knight Trilogy writer Jonathan Nolan (Fallout) has expressed an interest in returning to the franchise should the opportunity present itself, even though his brother Christopher still isn't keen.

By JoshWilding - May 02, 2024 05:05 AM EST
Filed Under: The Dark Knight

Jonathan Nolan wrote The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises alongside his brother (after contributing to Batman Begins), filmmaker Christopher Nolan, and he's since shifted focus to small screen projects like Westworld and Fallout

Christopher has said on multiple occasions that he's done with Batman, while Christian Bale has vowed to only return if the director does. As a result, we've come to accept this trilogy ended in 2012 and will be left alone (thankfully, The Flash didn't sour it in any way last summer).

However, in a new interview, Jonathan has made it clear he'd be open to returning to the Caped Crusader's world...even if his brother would take some convincing.

"Wouldn't that be a dream," he said. "That period was about 10 years of my life, from when I got the call to work on Batman Begins in 2003 to putting out The Dark Knight Rises In 2012 and it was epic."

"The chance to work Christian, Heath, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and the extraordinary cast of those films," Nolan continued. "A sort of American icon. So, if I had the chance to go back and work on that again - absolutely."

It's a nice thought, but with DC Studios rebooting the DCU and two Batman franchises - Matt Reeves' The Batman and Andy Muschietti's The Brave and the Bold - soon to dominate theaters, there's arguably no place for a revival of any sort.

Had Warner Bros.' planned Crisis on Infinite Earths movie become a reality, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Bale might have been talked into donning the cape and cowl one final time.

"Chris was on the fence about making another one," Jonathan previously said of how The Dark Knight came to be. "I think he didn’t want to become a superhero movie director. He was very proud of 'Batman Begins,' but to me, it was like we built this amazing sports car, and I’m like, 'Let’s take it for a drive. Don’t you want to make another one?'" 

"We spent an hour telling the origin story, and that’s great, but it’s like, 'What [more] can we do with this?' Can we take the same characters and shift ever so slightly into a different genre? Can we go from an adventure film to a crime film, to a mob movie, and bring that feeling into it?"

Check out this new interview with the filmmaker in the player below.

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harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 5/2/2024, 5:13 AM
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Spike101
Spike101 - 5/2/2024, 5:51 AM
Still of if the best comic book movies out there. The only ones that come close for me are Watchmen, Spider-Man 2, The Winter Soldier, Infinity War, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 5/2/2024, 6:03 AM
@Spike101 - No love for Logan, 300, ironman 1, DP1 or Sin City?
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ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/2/2024, 7:34 AM
@Spike101 - One of these things is not like the others. But to each their own.
Spike101
Spike101 - 5/2/2024, 6:36 PM
@harryba11zack - not over keen on 300 but loved all the others you mentioned, trouble is knowing where to stop! The First Avenger too and the first Guardians.
Spike101
Spike101 - 5/2/2024, 6:37 PM
@ObserverIO - Watchmen or Justice League? Watchmen I loved as it was gritting and dark, the full Justice League just for the scale of it.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/3/2024, 4:50 AM
@Spike101 - Justice League.

Watchemen is flawed as an adaptation, but faithful enough that it's still a masterpiece, imo. The fact that it wasn't nominated for Best Picture is a travesty.

But Justice League is just a mess. Both versions are, but the longer version is a much bigger, longer mess.
There are some cool sequences in the longer version though (the Cyborg origin and that moment that Steppenwolf throws the horse were cool).
Spike101
Spike101 - 5/3/2024, 11:12 PM
@ObserverIO - Watchmen until the movie I’d never heard of before so I went in cold and really enjoyed it.
Typhoon20
Typhoon20 - 5/2/2024, 6:01 AM
He did a fckng great job with Fallout. Can't wait for Season 2.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 5/2/2024, 6:20 AM
Does Brave and the Bold still need a writer? Because I think he'd be a great fit for that. He knows Batman, and Fallout shows he knows how to inject levity into the writing really well too.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/2/2024, 6:22 AM
@bkmeijer1 - yes though there’s a rumor that John Logan might be writing it last I heard

He’s written movies like Last Samurai and Skyfall etc.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 5/2/2024, 7:37 AM
@bkmeijer1 - I was thinking....
If this dude wants the job then Gunn should drop everything and let this guy write The Brave and the Bold. Period. End of discussion.
MotherGooseUPus
MotherGooseUPus - 5/2/2024, 9:22 AM
@bkmeijer1 - theres no f*cking way Andy is directing the Brave and the Bold.... is he? is....he? anyways, would love Johnathan to get to write Brave and the Bold. Do it Gunn, Do IT
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/2/2024, 6:21 AM
While I wouldn’t mind him returning to the Batman franchise (between him & his brother , I think Jonathan is the better writer)…

I would rather he take on a different DC character such as The Question for an example.

Given his work on Person of Interest , I could see the investigative element of that translate well to his take on Vic Sage.

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elgaz
elgaz - 5/2/2024, 6:39 AM
Batman Begins was great, as was TDKR, but The Dark Knight was the gem of the 3 imo. All the cards just landed correctly; fantastic story, great writing, terrific cast, superb villain with Ledger's iconic Joker performance, and so on. It still stands up superbly even against the more fantastical approaches of more recent superhero films, and I still see new viewers being blown away by it.
S8R8M
S8R8M - 5/2/2024, 6:40 AM
He's got my money!
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/2/2024, 7:39 AM
The Nolanverse is probably the best DC cinematic universe. Especially if you include Man of Steel. I'm with Forthas on this one.

If the Nolans come back to do another film set in that universe, I'm game.

It's just... he had an ending. They finally gave Batman an ending. You know? I mean there are ways around it, but I wouldn't want to ruin the completeness of the trilogy. It's kinda neat.
TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 5/2/2024, 8:01 AM
Nolan is great, but his Batman fight scenes were.. 😒
Forthas
Forthas - 5/2/2024, 8:31 AM
This man needs to be running the DC Film Studio!!!! The only person that can go toe to toe with Kevin Feige
Forthas
Forthas - 5/2/2024, 8:33 AM

"while Christian Bale has vowed to only return if the director does."

THIS IS A FALSE STATEMENT...He has never said that is the "only" way he would return!
Forthas
Forthas - 5/2/2024, 8:38 AM
"It's a nice thought, but with DC Studios rebooting the DCU and two Batman franchises - Matt Reeves' The Batman and Andy Muschietti's The Brave and the Bold - soon to dominate theaters, there's arguably no place for a revival of any sort."

Thanks to this attitude, Warner Brothers has been sold twice (soon to be a third), its fans have abandoned it and its stock price and therefore value is at historic lows. Maybe an intelligent approach would have changed all of that!
marvel72
marvel72 - 5/2/2024, 9:00 AM
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soberchimera
soberchimera - 5/2/2024, 9:13 AM
Would love for him to tackle literally any character in DC besides Batman. The Question, Constantine, The Demon, Hawkman, and Warlord come to mind.
LeonNova
LeonNova - 5/2/2024, 11:31 PM
Chris Nolan and Bale don’t have to be involved, nor does it need to be that version of the character. Jonathan is a great writer, and I’d love to see him work on TBATB.

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