The Gambit spin-off film is in serious trouble

It’s being widely reported around this internet this week that the upcoming Gambit spin-off film might be losing its star.

According to the online rumour mill, Channing Tatum is pretty dead-set on walking away from the film entirely. While the same sources have said that discussions are ongoing, they’ve confirmed that “something is up” with regards to the deal Fox previously had set in place.

This is pretty surprising, given that Tatum was very recently talking up his excitement for playing everyone’s favourite Cajun, most publicly at the San Diego Comic-Con and in a recent Reddit AMA.

At this point, the popular belief is that this could cause the entire project to fall through. Tatum has been the studio’s only choice to play Gambit since the film was first conceived. Additionally, Gambit was scheduled to start filming in October of this year, for a release on October 7th, 2016. Recasting the titular character on such short notice would be problematic, to say the least.

Despite being one of the most indisputably popular characters in the X-verse, 20th Century Fox has always been gun shy in integrating him into the film series. Ever since X-Men’s release in 2000, there have been consistent promises by the studio that he’d be making an appearance in subsequent movies, only for fans to end up being let down each time. Gambit finally made his on-screen debut in the atrocious X-Men Origins: Wolverine, played by Taylor Kitsch; a debut that just about every fan would like to pretend never happened.

do you hear me? THIS NEVER HAPPENED

As to the Gambit spin-off itself, it’s unlikely that its ultimate cancellation would have any substantial effect on the fan community. By and large, the announcement of the spin-off was met with indifference, with the casting of pretty boy Tatum being even less popular. Tatum confirmed in his recent interviews that there was no intention on integrating this version of Gambit into any of the foreseeable X-Men films either which, in the era of superhero crossovers and mash-ups, is a questionable business decision. At this point, it’s unclear how the spin-off would have factored into Fox’s future X-Men plans and, as a result of that, just how important saving Gambit is to them.

We can expect an official statement from Fox in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more.