Channing Tatum Expresses Disappointment Over Not Playing X-Men's Gambit

Several years ago, it was announced that Channing Tatum has been cast to play Gambit in a solo film. However, the project was stuck in development with many directors and writers hired and exited some time afterward. The character was also planned to appear in X-Men: Apocalypse which didn't end up happening. Unfortunately, it finally got canceled when Disney acquired Fox and the X-Men characters' rights went to Marvel Studios.

In an interview with Variety, Tatum got candid about his experience developing the solo Gambit movie in which he admitted that he was disappointed that the project didn't end up happening and was traumatized by it that he didn't watch any Marvel movies.

"Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized," Tatum said. "I shut off my Marvel machine. I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him."

Reid Carolin, Tatum's longtime producer partner and co-director of their upcoming film Dog, shared that their take on the Gambit movie would have resembled the tone of Deadpool and it would be R-rated. "We wanted to make a romantic comedy superhero movie,” he said. "The thesis was the only thing harder than saving the world is making a relationship work." He also added that they were close to making it happen as they had cast the film, opened a production office, and they were planning to shoot in New Orleans.

Despite the cancellation of the project, Tatum said that he is still open to playing the character if he ever gets asked. "Uh, yeah, I would love to play Gambit. I don’t think we should direct it. I think that was hubris on our part," he said.

Also Read: Taron Egerton's Drastic Body Transformation Fuels Rumors of X-Men Casting

It would have been intriguing to see Tatum's take on Gambit and we can pretty much say that a lot of fans are still interested to see him play the role. While it is very disappointing for him that the project didn't end up happening and he wasn't able to play the character, there is still a chance for him given that the MCU is set to introduce the mutants soon and it is possible that, once Marvel Studios is looking to cast someone to play Gambit, they might call Tatum first.