Simon Kinberg

By now, everyone knows that Logan is Hugh Jackman’s last go-round as Wolverine. It’s tough to see him go — he’s arguably the protagonist of the original X-Men trilogy and was always a welcome presence in the new crop of movies, but he’s a big star now, and Logan is a tone-perfect way to round out his career as that character. Now, the question becomes: who, if anyone, will take his place? The X-Men series will still continue for at least one more movie, and there are a number of spinoffs in the works, so Wolverine will have to reappear somehow, right?

Simon Kinberg is everything an aspiring writer could hope to be. He’s written some of the biggest and most expensive blockbuster movies of his generation. He’s leveraged his talent as a writer into a lucrative career in film and television producing. He’s pushed the boundaries of superhero films and will even tackle his very own Star Wars sequel in the not-too-distant future. He’s been nominated for an Academy Award. By any measure of success, Kinberg is one of Hollywood’s best and brightest.

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.

There’s a lot up in the air about what’s next for the X-Men after last summer’s gloomy Apocalypse, including who’ll be onboard to direct the mutants’ latest adventure. A new report indicates that Simon Kinberg himself, after writing, producing, or otherwise having a hand in pretty much every X-Men project to date, might be up for the job.

Not long after director Tim Miller exited the Deadpool sequel over creative differences with Ryan Reynolds, reports revealed the reason behind the split: Miller, a VFX pro, wanted to make a more polished (and more expensive) sequel, while Reynolds (and screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) wanted to stick to the scrappy (and less expensive) style that made the first film such a hit. Now, with John Wick co-director David Leitch at the helm, Reynolds and producer Simon Kinberg have offered a quick update on Deadpool 2, including words of praise for Leitch and a promise to make sure the sequel is in keeping with its predecessor.

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.

Simon Kinberg must have been feeling pretty chatty this past weekend. After weighing in on the screenplay for Deadpool 2 and all the superhero and sequel jokes the movie could make, Kinberg also opened up on the never-ending production delays faced by the studio’s long-awaited Gambit standalone film. And if you’ve been following the Gambit production for years and can’t take the stress, don’t worry: the film is still happening, it’s just not quite where anyone wants it to be yet.

File this one under Least Surprising News of All Time: according to producer Simon Kinberg, the upcoming sequel to the surprise hit Deadpool will poke fun at superhero sequels. No word yet on whether the character of Deadpool will continue to make movie references, talk to the camera, and poke fun at the successes and failures of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise.

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.

Last year’s Fantastic Four reboot was beset with problems before it even hit theaters, from the highly-publicized conflict between Josh Trank and the studio to rumors of the director’s behavior on-set and reports of an unusual amount of reshoots. When the actual film arrived, it was…disappointing, to say the least. And although producer Simon Kinberg has remained optimistic about a sequel somewhere down the line, even he’s finally admitting that Fantastic Four had some serious issues — as in, it was too serious.