In May 2014, news broke out that Channing Tatum was cast as the lead in an X-Men spinoff centered around Gambit. The character was first introduced in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine and was portrayed by Taylor Kitsch. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner shared the news at the premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past in London. The 22 Jump Street star also expressed his desire to portray the character and was excited to star in an X-Men movie.
However, even after getting a release schedule for March 2020, it was later canceled by Disney after it acquired 21st Century Fox. Although the studio has canceled the film, Tatum still hopes to portray the character in the future. In his recent interview with Vanity Fair, The Lost City star once again expressed his desire to portray the character.
Channing Tatum Still Wants to Portray Gambit
Channing Tatum has always wanted to portray Remy LeBeau, aka Gambit, in X-Men movies, as he is able to relate to him. “Gambit is really the only X-Man I’ve ever loved,” he shared. The Logan Lucky star also shared that he even talked to the X-Men producer about portraying the character.
Rumors at the time also suggested that he would be introduced as Gambit in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse and would feature in a spin-off later. However, his solo film was canceled later in 2019, and his dream to portray his favorite X-Men never came true.
But Tatum still has hopes to be the Remy LeBeau on screen. In his recent interview with Vanity Fair, he shared that he is still interested in portraying Gambit. The G.I. Joe star also said that he even approached Marvel Studios, “every once in a while.” Channing Tatum has earlier shared that he and Reid Carolin spent four years working on the film, but in the end “It got swallowed up into Disney by way of Marvel when they bought Fox…”
The Magic Mike star shared that although he has an idea about the fate of the film and the X-Men character, he still hopes for the better. Reid Carolin, who was associated with the film as a co-director, shared that they were about to begin the filming when it was canceled.
The 21 Jump Street star has also shared that the Gambit movie was not something Disney would have wanted to do. And that could be the reason why the studio decided to cancel it.
Channing Tatum Shares the Reason Behind Gambit’s Cancellation
Earlier, the Step Up star shared that the Gambit film was planned to be a romantic comedy superhero movie, like Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. During his recent interview, he shared that it could have been the reason why Disney canceled the film.
“I just think that the tone of the movie we wanted to make was very far from what they wanted to do,” he said. He further mentioned, “Or, you know, maybe they’re waiting to see how they do it with us or without us.”
The studio has not released any official information regarding an X-Men movie. However, with Wolverine making his MCU debut in Deadpool 3, Marvel Studios can introduce more X-Men in the future. And Channing Tatum is hopeful he will also be among the X-Men joining the MCU in its upcoming phases.
Source: Vanity Fair
