It’s been about five years now that talks for a Gambit movie have circled about. The interest even went far enough to choose Channing Tatum in the titular role, and the actor had expressed enthusiasm regarding the project. But now, Disney has shelved the movie after the big Fox-Disney merger.
Fox had initially owned the film rights to the X-Men franchise. But with the merger, they delayed many big film titles which included Alita, Dark Phoenix, and Gambit. Gambit was initially moved to 2020, which was frustrating for fans because the movie continually got delayed. But now that Disney has the rights to X-Men, the project has been officially shelved.
Disney has released all of its upcoming movies through 2027, and Gambit is not on the list. The list does include the Avatar sequels and three untitled Star Wars movies. Fans are disappointed over the news, and it has to be frustrating for Channing Tatum who often spoke about his excitement to play the character and his practicing of the Cajun accent.
Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is moving into Phase 4 after Avengers: Endgame, it seems Disney is going to focus its efforts on that and not bring X-Men into the fold. At least, not for the foreseeable future. Fox, overall, did a decent job with the X-Men franchise. Many fans were excited to see how Disney would handle these characters and story points after their enormous success with Avengers. Unfortunately, it will be at least 2027 until we know if X-Men will be brought onto the big screen once again. For fans of Gambit, the comics, cartoons, and other media will have to do to have fun with the renegade mutant and his charming personality. Perhaps, in the future, Tatum will still be considered for the role. Only time will tell.
Ashley is the author of the Thread of Souls book series, an avid traveler, and a Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast!
