Channing Tatum

Following last month’s brief (very brief) confusion over whether Channing Tatum was fully committed to the Gambit solo movie comes news of an actual shakeup behind the scenes. Director Rupert Wyatt has exited the project, leaving the director’s chair vacant and 20th Century Fox in need of a quick replacement if they hope to make their fall 2016 release date.

A few weeks back we learned that a few actresses were on 20th Century Fox’s shortlist to star opposite Channing Tatum in Gambit: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation breakout star Rebecca Ferguson, Mad Max: Fury Road’s Abbey Lee, and Spectre’s Lea Seydoux. Ferguson declined to take the part, leaving just Lee and Seydoux, but it looks like the latter has the part locked down…if she wants it.

Last week, when news broke that Channing Tatum might be leaving Gambit, there was a little extra piece of news that you may not have noticed while you were panicking: Tatum was in the midst of testing opposite potential leading ladies, including Spectre star Lea Seydoux. 20th Century Fox has a couple of other interesting names on their lead actress short list, including Rebecca Ferguson, who just kicked all of the ass in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

Earlier this week news broke that Channing Tatum had abruptly (at least from an outsider’s perspective) exited the Gambit solo film. No reason was given, although with the reported, proposed budget coming in at $160 million (that’s $10 million more than X-Men: Days of Future Past), it seemed fair to speculate that Tatum’s departure had something to do with budget issues. You can breathe a sigh of relief now, though, because Tatum is back on the Gambit pony.

Lots of superhero news today, but not all of it is good (depending on your perspective): Channing Tatum has reportedly exited the Gambit solo movie, even though the actor recently appeared with the X-Men and Deadpool casts at Comic-Con, where he participated in a very memorable group selfie.

Deadpool wasn’t the only character who wasn’t properly represented in X-Men Origins: Wolverine — Gambit was also fairly disappointing in that film, leading many fans to wonder if we’d ever see a decent version of the character on the big screen. We’re finally getting our wish with Channing Tatum in the role of the Cajun mutant, and new info on the film not only reveals that it will begin shooting this fall, but gives us some idea of the players involved.

Now that Magic Mike XXL has been unleashed in theaters, we’re all moving on to Channing Tatum’s next big project: Gambit. The X-Men superhero’s solo movie was one we never thought could reasonably happen, especially after the horror of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But we’re in a new, better X-Men era, and Tatum — along with his producing partner Reid Carolin — are giving us even more hope with their latest update on the film.

Although it’s been rumored that Channing Tatum’s Gambit and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine might appear in X-Men: Apocalypse, we now have confirmation that one of them will definitely not be showing up after all. According to Channing Tatum, you shouldn’t get your hopes up about a Gambit cameo in Bryan Singer’s upcoming sequel.

It’s no secret that a bunch of very interesting directors said no when Channing Tatum brought Gambit to their attention, but the film’s star/producer/cheerleader has finally gone and done it. He’s actually landed a genuinely interesting director to call the shots on the X-Men spin-off about a Cajun thief who throws exploding playing cards. Good luck, Rupert Wyatt. This is in your hands now.

Yes, Channing Tatum is still planning to make that Gambit movie. He just needs a finished screenplay. And a director. And an angle that helps us forget that Gambit is one of the lamest X-Men to ever achieve inexplicable popularity. (Note: This is not the position of the editor of ComicsAlliance. Gambit is awesome.) Casting the intensely likable and charismatic Tatum goes a long away toward achieving that last goal, and in a new interview, the Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street star revealed that the first draft of the script has been turned in ... and that the movie will be an origin story, albeit one that won’t play by the normal superhero movie rules.