‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Joseph Gordon Levitt Remembers ‘The Dark Knight’s Heath Ledger

In a new Instagram post, The Dark Knight Rises star Joseph Gordon-Levitt shared his thoughts on the late Heath Ledger, with whom he co-starred in 10 Things I Hate About You.

Ledger’s iconic performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight cast a long shadow over The Dark Knight Rises, particularly because he passed away before the film was released and was awarded a posthumous Academy Award for it.

You can see the warm post, complete with a photo of the pair, below.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s John Blake character in director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises was an idealistic young police officer who formed a relationship with Commissioner James Gordon during the third and final installment of Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. Ultimately, when Batman was presumed dead, it was Blake who came into possession of the Batcave and all of Bruce Wayne’s gear.

The actor expressed an interest in revisiting the character, either in a sequel or some other kind of stand-alone spinoff that would give fans more of a sense for “Robin” Blake. “It’s amazing and so wonderful to be part of a film like [The Dark Knight Rises],” Levitt said in an interview. “But as far as Robin is concerned, that’s not up to me. I don’t have the rights to that character. If there’s a script I find inspiring and a filmmaker I have a connection with, I’m interested.”

There were reports that Ledger, as well, was expected to come back after his turn in The Dark Knight, with some saying that The Joker could have been a kind of Hannibal Lecter character who somehow held the key to defeating the next bad guy.

Neither happened, of course; Ledger passed away, and then DC moved on from the Nolanverse to relaunch Batman as an older, grizzled crimefighter in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.