Much has been said about the third “Batman” film, starting from speculation on who will be the villain now that Heath Ledger’s Joker could not return to rumors of whether the film will even be made. Facts were scarce until now, when director Chris Nolan is finally speaking about the much-hyped production – and drops the bomb that the third film will also be the last, as the Guardian can confirm.

The biggest predicament Warner was in after the release and subsequent success of “The Dark Knight” was whether to continue with the franchise after actor Heath Ledger passed away of an accidental overdose. Eventually, it turned out that it wasn’t just the movie studio that wanted a next installment, but the fans as well, so planning began to make it happen. Producers are now aiming for a 2011 release at the earliest, ongoing reports say.

“We have a great ensemble, that’s one of the attractions of doing another film, since we’ve been having a great time for years,” Nolan says of the motivation behind making the third installment of the rebooted Batman with Christian Bale. “Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story,” the director states.

“Nolan refused to confirm whether there would be another main villain for the third film, saying only that Mr. Freeze would not be appearing. But his comments over the returning cast make me wonder whether he and screenwriting brother Jonathan Nolan might have plumped for a scenario in which the story continues straight on from the end of The Dark Knight, in which Batman was left running for his life with the forces of Gotham at his heels, rather than a distinct new episode with a new bad guy to be outwitted,” the Guardian writes.

What Chris Nolan would say, though, is that he’s anxious to see the third story finally out there because both he and Jonathan have been waiting to do this for a while now. He and his brother have come up with “some pretty exciting stuff” as regards the characters and the conclusion the story comes to – and fans will certainly appreciate it, Chris believes.