JimK:  Well crap.

CS/SHH!: Is Harvey Dent alive?
Aaron Eckhart: No. He is dead as a door nail.

CS/SHH!: So he’s not coming back?
Eckhart: He ain’t coming back baby!

CS/SHH!: I was hoping he would.
Eckhart: No. I asked Chris [Nolan] that question and he goes, “You’re dead” before I could even get the question out of my mouth. “Hey Chris, am I?” “You’re dead!” Alright, cool.

CS/SHH!: That’s not a problem in comic book movies. You could still come back.
Eckhart: I think in contract negotiations it’s a problem.

CS/SHH!: So you were never signed on for another film?
Eckhart: No, I’m not coming back. I think unfortunately, Heath [Ledger] was supposed to go on and that didn’t work out. I’m nobody. I’m a cog. I have no say over this sort of stuff. I’m sure that there’s so many other characters that they could whip together. I heard Angelina Jolie was going to be Catwoman or something like that. I thought that was a great idea. I’d like to be in that one.

I really, really hope this is a smokescreen.  Unfortunately it could be true, in which case it would suck monkey ass.  Eckhart’s performance as Dent was the opposite of Heath’s Joker in style but equal in skill and impact, IMHO.  I know there are about a million ways to bring him back without retconning or violating causality or whatever.  Hopefully he’s being paid to lie.  Is there some sort of ancient Mayan God to whom we could sacrifice a goat, virgin or infant in order to make this not true and bring Dent back?