‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Star Channing Tatum Is Still Fighting For A Solo ‘Gambit’ Movie, And He Knows Exactly What It Needs
Few passion projects in Hollywood have waited as long as Channing Tatum’s solo ‘Gambit‘ movie. The card-slinging mutant has lived in limbo for years, even after Tatum finally got to play him on screen. Now the actor is making it clear that the dream isn’t dead.
The film was ordered back in 2014, with Tatum attached as the Cajun X-Man, and it was ultimately cancelled after Disney acquired Fox. In between, Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman and Gore Verbinski all came and went as director. Léa Seydoux was even cast opposite Tatum at one stage before the whole thing fell apart.
Speaking to ScreenRant, Tatum said he is still fighting for the chance to make the movie, and that he is waiting for a “very, very good director to realize it.” The comments land just as he prepares to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’. It is a notable shift in tone for a star who once admitted the cancellation left him too hurt to watch Marvel movies.
Tatum explained that the first director on the project had a fallout with the studio, so that version never worked out. The second was stuck in development for so long that he felt he and his producing partner had to start moving toward actually making the film. Neither path led to a finished movie.
He also revealed that Shawn Levy wanted to direct an earlier script. At that point, Tatum and Reid Carolin simply weren’t ready to hand it over. Levy went on to direct ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, the movie that finally gave Tatum his Gambit debut, and he has said he was one of several dozen directors who interviewed for the original job.
Later in development, Tatum and Carolin pushed to direct the film themselves. Tatum now blames that move on frustration and hubris. He said they convinced Fox to let them write the movie both sides wanted, hoping a director would sign on to that exact script, and they fell in love with the result.
That love is part of why the pair lobbied so hard to take the chair. Looking back, though, Tatum feels lucky it didn’t happen and believes they would have failed badly. He has also said Fox didn’t want them directing in the first place.
The script itself was a big part of the story. In October 2025, Tatum confirmed it was written as an R-rated romantic comedy that included mutants having sex. He felt Disney wasn’t ready to take that kind of risk on an R-rated Marvel production, which helped explain why the film never got produced.
Carolin has described the story as a mutant take on ‘Goodfellas’, set in the character’s home of New Orleans. That mix of crime saga and romance is a long way from the standard superhero template, which may be exactly why Tatum still believes in it.
He used to be different. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters everywhere December 18. Get your tickets now: https://t.co/J5PUbxvAkc https://t.co/OUutSMZneq
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) August 15, 2026
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ was the first time Tatum got to wear the costume, and the cameo became a fan favorite. After the movie, he said any solo outing would come down to Marvel Studios and Disney. He is now set to return as Gambit in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, the Russo brothers’ event film starring Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, arriving in theaters on December 18.
Tatum has said he plans to soften the Cajun accent for the new movie, and he thinks Gambit needs a serious moment to balance his fun-loving side. He has also confirmed that his Gambit comes from the same timeline as Magneto and Professor X, though he left some mystery around it. That suggests Marvel is taking the character more seriously this time around.
Not everyone is convinced a solo film would work. One Screen Rant writer argued that the over-the-top accent that made the cameo such a hit would be hard to sustain across a full-length story, especially a serious one. Tatum, meanwhile, keeps pushing.
Whether Marvel ever hands him the right filmmaker remains to be seen, but his persistence has turned a long-running joke into a genuine fan campaign.
Should Marvel finally give Channing Tatum a solo Gambit movie?
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