The Cards Are Back On The Table - Channing Tatum Officially Cast As Gambit

Well, that turned around quick.

By Alex Leadbeater /

Remember just last week when word broke that Channing Tatum wasn't going to playing Gambit in the X-Men stand-alone movie? Well it looks like that was a load of blown-up hearsay - the actor has just officially signed on to the project. The speculation-haters that have emerged in recent days on the internet are going to have a field day. According to The Hollywood Reporter, all of those departure rumours come from the complex negotiations involved on the property. You see, while Gambit is a hero who's had a minimal impact on the X-Men films thus far (his only appearance was a forgettable turn by Taylor Kitsch in Origins: Wolverine), the future hinges on the kinetic abusing mutant. Similar to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, he's going to be something of a through-line to all the varied adventures - Logan is leaving the X-Men universe after his third solo outing in 2017, after all. It's not clear whether this multi-film deal was what made Tatum temporarily baulk, but any reservations have clearly been ironed out. Rupert Wyatt's film will be the third X-Men movie of 2016, coming after Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse, giving the franchise more entries than either Marvel or DC will muster next year. Superhero fatigue? Maybe, but not quite yet. Gambit is set for release on 7th October 2016.