In news that is sure to sadden Gambit fans even more than they are already are, prospective director Reid Carolin has described their idea for the movie as resembling the tone of Deadpool. In a discussion with Variety, Carolin confirmed that the Gambit movie would have followed the Deadpool trend of being R-rated, as well as centering the comic book movie on a rom-com style relationship.

The proposed Gambit movie is one of the most highly publicized projects to never receive the green light. The intention was for Channing Tatum to star as the titular mutant, a fan-favorite member of The X-Men who possesses the ability to mentally create, control, and manipulate pure kinetic energy to his desire. Essentially, he can make anything he touches explode, opting to use playing cards as his weapon of choice.

“We wanted to make a romantic comedy superhero movie. The thesis was the only thing harder than saving the world is making a relationship work.”

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Carolin continued, revealing how close he and Tatum got to getting the Gambit movie off the ground. “We were right on the one-yard line,” Carolin said. “We had cast the film. We’d opened up a production office. We were on our way to shoot in New Orleans.” Unfortunately, things were brought to a grinding halt following Disney’s merger with Fox back in 2019. “Disney had just gotten the ‘X-Men’ from Fox,” Carolin explained. “I think they needed to redesign the ‘X-Men’ from the ground up.”

Not Making Gambit Has Left Channing Tatum Traumatized

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Gambit has exploded onto the big screen before, played by Taylor Kitsch in the much-maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine from 2009. While Kitsch was fairly well-received in the role, the movie itself received mixed reviews from critics, with many taking issues with how the story depicted Deadpool. In fact, Ryan Reynold’s standalone Deadpool movies poked fun at this iteration of the character in a meta touch that Gambit may have imitated.

Sadly, Gambit fans will never see this version of the movie come to fruition, and the experience has left Channing Tatum “traumatized.” The actor had been linked to the role for some time and was left devastated when everything came crashing down. “I shut off my Marvel machine,” the actor said. “I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him.”

In recent years, Tatum has demonstrated his affinity for comedy with the likes of 21 Jump Street and Free Guy, and this would no doubt have come in very handy had this Deadpool-style Gambit movie ever come to life. The actor will continue to stretch his comedy muscles in both his upcoming projects, beginning with Dog, which is due for release on February 18, 2022. The following month, Tatum will team up with Sandra Bullock for the romantic adventure comedy The Lost City, which finds the pair kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire who hopes that they can lead him to an ancient lost city’s treasure.