File this under expected. After early rumors dating back over a year ago, Deadline has confirmed that Nolan’s Inception star Joseph Gordon-Levitt will have a currently unknown role in The Dark Knight Rises. Christopher Nolan will start production this May, which will give Gordon-Levitt time to finish Rian Johnson’s sci-fi flick Looper with Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt. What a career.

He will join the regular cast including Christian Bale, as well as the recently confirmed Anne Hathaway (as Catwoman/Selina Kyle) and Tom Hardy as our villain Bane. Hardy had great chemistry with Gordon-Levitt in Inception, so it will be interesting to see if Nolan will match them up as baddies.

Nolan Fans also recently posted an interview on Kevin and Josh Movie Show with cinematographer Wally Pfister regarding The Dark Knight Rises. Check out some choice quotes below.

On if he can top The Dark Knight:

“I asked the same question. I read the script two weeks ago, and he’s done it. Plain and simple — he’s done it. It’s a phenomenal script. He’s still in the process of cutting it back because it’s a very long script right now, but it’s really phenomenal. And he actually had me go back and wanted me to watch, in IMAX, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight again. When I watched those I had read the script for The Dark Knight Rises and was like, ‘dude, it is a perfect trilogy.’ I think that was his intent, to work off those two pictures — and they are very different pictures. And it’s funny, we all had different opinions about which picture we like better.”

On IMAX:

“Our goal is to shoot as much in IMAX as we can. We’re going to put in on the screen, and put it on the screen big. And I really encourage everyone to see it in IMAX if they can because we’re really going for it this time. In terms of the action, we are all scratching our heads right now trying to figure out how we’re going to do it; how we’re going to do it in the amount of time we’re going to do it in. The opening scene of the movie will blow your mind.”

On Hathaway:

“She’s so good. She did an incredible job. She is a great, great actress… and she looked phenomenal in the wardrobe.”

The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 2012.

What do you think of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s addition?