Nestor Carbonell returning for The Dark Knight Rises

In another minuscule (but still interesting for obsessives) update, Variety are reporting that Nestor Carbonell will reprise his role as the Mayor of Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises .

Carbonell didn't have a huge amount of screentime in the last movie, but it'll be nice to see him return for continuity's sake.

This news will aslo ignite speculation as to how the character could fit in with the threequel's storyline.

A few days ago, it was announced that a few smaller roles had been cast in the Nolan's threequel, further amping up our anticipation for things to come.

With shooting set to begin imminently, excitement has been at fever pitch. Knowing Nolan's admirable inclination towards secrecy, it could be a long time until we get any official images of new characters, or even a teaser trailer to abate our fervour.

Carbonell and returning cast members Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman are joined by newbies Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy and Juno Temple for Rises , which is expected to bring Nolan's series to a definitive close.

Filming is set to begin in May, so there's not much time for more small-fry casting announcements like this.

The Dark Knight Rises will be released on 20 July 2012.

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.