A couple of months ago Channing Tatum suggested he’d really like to play Gambit in the X-Men universe. Well it turns out he was just musing about something that would never happen, as producer Lauren Shuler Donner has confirmed the actor will take on the role in X-Men: Apocalypse.
That’s bad news for Taylor Kitsch, who played Remy LeBeau, aka Gambit, in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, especially as at the time Wolverine was seen as a ways to introduce the character for a possible standalone movie.
Producer Lauren Shuler Donner let the news slip to Total Film, saying, “Well you know he’s a rogue, Channing. He’s a rascal, just like Remy LeBeau, and he can handle the action, we all know that. He’s got a really good heart, because I know him personally, I did a movie with him. So I think he’ll be great, he’ll be great for Gambit, and he’s a southerner too, he’s not from New Orleans but he is a southerner and he understands that world, and you know Gambit loves New Orleans.
Director Bryan Singer had previously suggested Apocalypse will feature both Gambit and Nightcrawler, although it’s not known whether Alan Cumming will be back in the latter role. However there won’t be as many of the cast from the original film trilogy as in Days Of Future Past, with Apocalypse concentrating slightly more on the First Class mutants. The movie is due out in 2016.