Channing Tatum

Is Channing Tatum finally going to get his solo Gambit movie?

News of Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie has become redundant, what with all the times it was allegedly going to “begin filming early next year.” Today, X-Men series producer and writer Simon Kinberg offers another update on the delayed spinoff, assuring fans that it’s still very much in development and they have every intention of hopefully, maybe, possibly filming it next year — but hey, ask again in six months and we’ll see what’s up then.

When you hear talk of the standalone Gambit movie, most — well, pretty much all — of it has the word “delay” in there somewhere. The movie started off strong: Channing Tatum signed on for the title character, it had a director, and everything looked good. Then, the first delay happened, it lost director Rupert Wyatt, got a new one, and was delayed some more. But fans of the trickster need not lose hope yet: X-Men producer Laura Schuler Donner says Tatum is still signed on to do a standalone Gambit movie in the future. We just don’t know when.

It may be difficult to believe in light of the 2016 election results, but there is other news still happening out there — even in the world of film, which offers a welcome distraction for many right now. And 20th Century Fox is serving up some pretty major news today, with a report that sheds light on the studio’s plans for the future of their expanding X-Men franchise, including Deadpool 3, X-Force and Gambit.

Some movies just seem destined to never get made. It’s been two-and-a-half years now since people first reported that those Channing Tatum rumors surrounding Gambit had some basis in fact, and while many comic books fans are excited to see the lovable Cajun rapscallion get his own movie, it seems that the production rumors and casting and hiring process was doomed to spin on well past the point where Tatum was young enough to still play an action hero.

It’s been a bit of a bumpy road for Gambit, the X-Men spinoff starring Channing Tatum as the eponymous mutant. After losing director Rupert Wyatt and replacing him with Doug Liman, Fox removed nixed the film’s release date with little explanation, leaving fans to wonder if Gambit would still happen at all. In a new interview, producer Simon Kinberg confirms that the project is still moving forward and offers a bit of optimism while explaining the delay.

As if the cast of Kingsman: The Golden Circle couldn’t get any better, Channing Tatum has up and joined the cast of Matthew Vaughn’s sequel to 2015’s breakout action hit. Tatum made the announcement via Twitter, where he also shared a teaser poster hinting at his part in the upcoming film, which also recently added Game of Thrones favorite Pedro Pascal.

Hot off the success of its other X-Men spinoff, Deadpool, Fox was set to begin filming on Gambit this month with Channing Tatum and Lea Seydoux set to star. But now Fox has announced the production on the film has been pushed back while the script undergoes extensive rewrites.

Gambit has had a few…problems. There were the rumors that Channing Tatum was going to walk over budget disputes, then Rupert Wyatt left the film without a director, eventually replaced a couple months later by Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman (reportedly Tatum’s top choice). With an October release date approaching, it seemed a bit crazy that Gambit could be ready in time, but now it appears that the latest X-Men solo spinoff has been given a reprieve as Fox has yanked it from their schedule and set release dates for two additional, unnamed Marvel projects.

For a superhero project with one of the most charismatic performers currently working locked in to star, Gambit has had a hell of a time getting off the ground. The X-Men spinoff film was originally slated to get Rupert Wyatt in the director's chair, but after butting heads with the studio over the creative direction of the film, Wyatt unceremoniously parted ways with producer/star Channing Tatum and the film. In the wake of Wyatt’s departure, Fox has been scrambling to find a worthy replacement, reportedly sitting down for heated chats with Attack the Block’s Joe Cornish, Straight Outta Compton’s F. Gary Gray, and Iron Man 3’s Shane Black.