X-Men Producer Confirms Channing Tatum Is Still Attached To Gambit

Despite numerous delays, some creative shakeups and months of rumors, Legion executive producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who has been working on the X-Men series of films from the very beginning, told reporters at the Television Critics Association that Channing Tatum is still attached to Gambit.

So don’t go fancasting him as Shazam just yet.

The Magic Mike star, who is married to Supergirl‘s Jenna Dewan Tatum, has remained one constant as the movie has been delayed numerous times and lost two star directors.

Over the summer, director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) was officially brought on board DC and Warner Bros. upcoming Dark Universe, also known as the theatrical version of Justice League Dark.

That left fans wondering about his other much talked about Gambit, and sources close to the movie later confirmed that Liman is no longer attached to the project, in what is being described as a “mutual parting of ways.”

At the time, they were still eyeing a January 2017 start date for filming, but without a replacement director, that seems unlikely. Buzz on the film has also died down significantly as Deadpool 2 and New Mutants have been ramping up, along with both Legion and a second, as-yet-untitled X-Men property meant for TV.

“Gambit will have its own different flavor and tone to it,” executive producer Simon Kinberg has said. “[It] will be more of like a heist movie and a sexy thriller in a way.”

Each time a new filmmaker comes in, though, the script has to be tweaked to suit that filmmaker’s skills, which has led to delays upon delays as the script is reworked for directors who then leave.