Shortly after Channing Tatum expressed interest in playing Gambit, X-Men franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner wasted no time in signing him up to play the character in a solo movie.
Moving forward with a high-profile project like this just because an actor admitted to being a fan was an odd move, and making Gambit a reality ultimately proved easier said than done. Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman, and Gore Verbinski were all attached to direct at one time or another, and just as it seemed to begin taking shape, the Disney/Fox merger happened, and Gambit was scrapped.
Ryan Reynolds pushed to give Tatum another chance, leading to him making his surprise MCU debut as Remy LeBeau in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine. His portrayal of Gambit was a hit with fans, and Avengers: Doomsday is now up next for the actor alongside the rest of the X-Men.
Talking to ScreenRant, Tatum reflected on Gambit's troubled production history. "We had three different directors that were signed up to do it, and the first one, the studio, Fox, they had a fallout, so that one didn't work out," he recalled. "The second one was just in development for so long with somebody that I was just like, 'We got to move to making this thing.'"
"So we separated ourselves, and then the third one almost got going with Gore Verbinski, and then creatively all three of us, the studio, him and me, we started in the same place, and then as it developed, we just all grew apart."
With that, Tatum and producing partner Reid Carolin decided to take a crack at the script and concluded that one of them should direct (Carolin has written movies like Magic Mike and Logan Lucky and more recently directed Dog and Isle of Man).
Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy briefly considered directing Gambit, but when that didn't work out, Tatum realised that neither he nor Carolin "were ready to direct a movie like that," admitting it would have "failed miserably."
He continued, "Now that I know exactly what directing is and how complicated it is and how these movies specifically are so hard, you really need to know what you're doing. It can't be your first movie. You've got to really get a lot of different facets under your belt and have a lot of experience because making one of these movies is nearly impossible"
"Some people really have the formula down and really know how to do it, and some others struggle," Tatum confessed. "It would've just been a catastrophe on a level that I would never have recovered from."
While he remains open to starring in a Gambit movie, Tatum will have a starring role as the Cajun mutant in next month's Avengers: Doomsday.
However, he's now confirmed that the upcoming blockbuster will not explain Remy LeBeau's time in The Void or how he ultimately escaped; he's simply part of the X-Men Universe now.
Adding that there's some "grey around" his return, Tatum explained, "Even where he came from in Deadpool & Wolverine, like you're saying, he hasn't been anywhere, in a way, and he was born in The Void, in a way. It doesn't go into it is what I would say. We start in such a place that we never really get to address where he's come from."
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.