Channing Tatum’s Canceled Gambit Movie Had a ’30s Screwball Romantic Comedy Vibe Set in the Superhero World

Channing Tatum’s canceled Gambit movie had a ’30s screwball romantic comedy vibe set in the superhero world, according to Lizzy Caplan.

Speaking to Business Insider, the Cloverfield actress discussed the Gambit movie in which she was set to star alongside Tatum, saying it had “a really cool idea.”

Tatum’s well-documented battle to play the fan-favorite X-Men superhero looked to have fallen by the wayside before his surprise Gambit cameo in MCU smash hit Deadpool & Wolverine. His previous attempt to get a Gambit movie made was scrapped after the 2019 Disney-Fox merger, and Tatum has spoken about how he feared he’d never get the chance to play the card-carrying mutant, and was even left “traumatized” by the ordeal.

Caplan was reported to be set to play the female lead in the Gambit movie as far back as 2017, and in the interview with Business Insider she confirmed that she had signed on for the film and even had meetings with Tatum about it. “We got down the road, we were gonna shoot it,” Caplan said. “I think there was a start date.”

In 2018, Simon Kinberg, the producer on the Gambit movie, told IGN it would have a “romantic or sex comedy vibe” due to the nature of Gambit himself.

“When you look at Gambit,” Kinberg said, “he’s a hustler and a womanizer and we just felt like there was an attitude, a swagger to him, that lent itself to romantic comedy.”

Now, seven years later, Caplan backed that up. “They wanted to do, like, a ’30s kind of screwball romantic comedy set in that world, which would have been really fun,” she said.

What next for Tatum and Gambit, then? Marvel Studios has yet to say, although it has confirmed the impending arrival of the X-Men in the MCU.

In August last year, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds tweeted a high quality version of a Deadpool & Wolverine scene that was hard to make out in cinemas — and in the process sent Gambit fans into speculation overdrive.

Warning! Deadpool & Wolverine spoilers follow.

Reynolds tweeted a clip showing Gambit in the aftermath of the movie’s final battle. The camera zooms in on Gambit’s face to reveal one of the MCU’s famous universe-hopping portals (or a Marvel Sparkle Circle, as Deadpool jokingly calls them) reflected in Gambit’s eyes.

The suggestion is that Gambit makes it out of the void alive and potentially straight into future MCU projects.

Marvel Studios has yet to announce a Gambit standalone movie or TV series, or any future project involving the character, but following Tatum’s long-awaited turn as the superhero fans are calling for more.

Tatum himself thinks his character deserves more screen time with a standalone movie. “I sure hope so,” Tatum told Variety of a potential Gambit film. “From your mouth to God’s ears. Write it into existence, my friend. Please.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.