Channing Tatum's Gambit solo movie would have reportedly been unlike anything else fans had seen before in 20th Century Fox's X-Men Universe. Lizzy Caplan, who was attached to the scrapped X-Men spinoff, recently revealed the unique story idea for Gambit.
Speaking with Business Insider (via Variety), Caplan reflected on the canceled Gambitmovie, revealing that there was a "really cool idea" for the spinoff. "It’s kind of odd that it got scrapped. Those movies don’t seem to ever get scrapped, but it did," she said. "We got down the road, we were gonna shoot it. I think there was a start date. I had had meetings with Channing, and there were a couple different… we had a director, then we didn’t, but I had multiple meetings with Channing and the other producers. They wanted to do, like, a ’30s kind of screwball romantic comedy set in that world, which would have been really fun."
Gambit, a mutant who can mentally create, control, and manipulate pure kinetic energy, made his first appearance in Fox's X-Men franchise in the 2009 film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, played by Taylor Kitsch. However, when a Gambit solo film was announced in 2014, Kitsch was not brought back with Tatum instead attached to the role. However, despite a passionate Tatum, Gambit could never manage to secure a director, with the likes of Edgar Wright, Darren Aronofsky, J.C. Chandor, Bennett Miller, and Gareth Evans all entertaining and exiting the movie over five years. Following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century, the project was canceled in May 2019.
Channing Tatum Got His Chance to Play Gambit in 2024
While Tatum never got the chance to portray Gambit in Fox's X-Men film series, the actor was still able to bring the fan-favorite mutant to life on the big screen thanks to a scene-stealing performance in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine. In fact, Tatum's Gambit was so well-received that Marvel Studios is rumored to be toying with bringing him back for Avengers: Doomsdayand Secret Wars. While that remains unconfirmed, it does track with what Ryan Reynolds shared in November 2024 about Marvel Studios being "obsessed with him in that role."
The Deadpool actor continued, "It's kind of like the same situation I went through. Once you show that it works well, that's really what they need. Sometimes they just need to see it in action. And Channing is so singular in how he plays that character. But also he's so beautiful physically, the way he moves and the way he can pick up steps."
As for whether Tatum thinks his time playing Gambit is over, the actor told Collider in August 2024, "You never know. I mean, literally, I could never be in another Marvel movie again, and it wouldn't surprise me because I've had it in my hand before, and it's gone away. I’m always grain-of-salting it, but I'm hoping that Kevin [Feige] will allow me in."
Deadpool & Wolverine is streaming on Disney+.
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