CONFIRMED: Liam Neeson Will Appear in The Dark Knight Rises
Posted 03.30.12 by BrentJS
Ever since director Christopher Nolan mentioned that his third and final Batman movie would be about "finishing the story" he began in Batman Begins, there has been speculation that The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) would feature the League of Shadows and possibly Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson), the villainous leader of the group that taught Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) many of the skills he uses as Batman. Sure, Ra's apparently died at the end of Batman Begins, but comic book fans know that Ra's is virtually immortal thanks to the mystical powers of the Lazarus Pit, so "dying" isn't much of an obstacle.
Fan speculation turned out to be correct when it was revealed that Ra's would be appearing in TDKR, though played by the much-younger Josh Pence instead of Neeson. Was Ra's rejuvenated in the Lazarus Pit or is Pence playing Ra's in flashback? We still don't know the answer to that question, but now we do know that Neeson — whose voice appears in the trailer and who admitted to being on set "for maybe an hour-and-a-half" — will be making an appearance in the TDKR thanks to Warner Bros. production notes for another Neeson movie, Wrath of the Titans.
Here's the excerpt of the production notes related to Neeson's appearance in TDKR:
Neeson next appears in Peter Berg's actioner "Battleship," and he also will be seen in Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated action thriller "The Dark Knight Rises."
Okay, so Neeson's in the movie. What does that mean? It's almost guaranteed that his appearance or appearances will be in one or more flashback sequences involving the League of Shadows. But, will they be scenes with a young Bruce Wayne or with a young Bane (Tom Hardy)? If you think back to Batman Begins, the reason that Ra's was training Wayne was to make him a soldier in the League of Shadows' war on Gotham City, which Ra's believed was too decadent and corrupt to continue to exist in its current state. Batman turned against Ra's and the League of Shadows and saved the city from destruction at the end of Batman Begins, but from the looks of the trailer for TDKR, destroying Gotham is exactly what Bane has in mind.
The Dark Knight Rises | Anne Hathaway | Christian Bale | Christopher Nolan | Movie Trailer | Review
The Dark Knight Rises was written by Jonathan Nolan from a story conceived by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Returning cast members include Gary Oldman as Commissioner James Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Sir Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, and Nestor Carbonell as the mayor of Gotham City. New additions in major roles include Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, and Juno Temple as Holly Robinson. Alon Aboutboul, Christopher Judge, Daniel Sunjata, Rob Brown, Adam Rodriguez, Christopher Judge, Diego Klattenhoff, Burn Gorman, Tom Conti, and Joey King also star.
Next Showing: The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20