For many years, actor Channing Tatum pursued a dream to star as the X-Men character Gambit. He came close several times after initially being cast in “X-Men: The Last Stand” until his character was written out.
He was then cast in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” until a scheduling conflict led to Taylor Kitsch taking on the role, and then came a solo “Gambit” film, which was to be done in the mid-2010s with Tatum doing various early press for it – however that production was ultimately cancelled before filming began.
Now, out promoting “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” the actor says there likely won’t be a “Deadpool”-style resurrection for the “Gambit” film, and he is coming to terms with that.
Speaking in a new interview with Vanity Fair, the 42-year-old actor finally thinks it’s time to let it go after more than fifteen years of being linked to the part:
“It got swallowed up into Disney by way of Marvel when they bought Fox, and ultimately I just think that the tone of the movie we wanted to make was very far from what they wanted to do – or, you know, maybe they’re waiting to see how they do it with us or without us. We call every once in a while, but we’ve got to spiritually, emotionally, kind of mentally let it go.”
That sounds like Tatum has come to terms with the solo film being scrapped, but it doesn’t necessarily rule him out of ever playing the role should Marvel want to do a ‘John Krasinki as Mr. Fantastic’ style short appearance in for one of its upcoming projects like “Deadpool 3” or the rumored to be multiverse spanning “Avengers: Secret Wars”.
Tatum can next be seen in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” opening next month.
