Ryan Reynolds Wants More of Channing Tatum's Gambit After Deadpool & Wolverine: "Remy LeBeau Is Grafted to His Soul"

"Gambit is a guy Chan was born to play," Ryan Reynolds says of Tatum's unmade X-Men movie.

By Cameron Bonomolo

Gambit wasn't in the cards for Channing Tatum — until Deadpool & Wolverine. In 2015, 20th Century Fox took over San Diego Comic-Con's Hall H stage to tease its Marvel-based slate: Fantastic Four, X-Men: Apocalypse, an untitled third Wolverine movie (which would become Logan), the R-rated Deadpool, and Gambit, an X-Men spinoff starring Tatum as the card-carrying mutant. Tatum even joined Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Michael B. Jordan, Oscar Isaac, and Marvel emeritus Stan Lee for a star-studded group photo previewing what was to come from the Fox-made Marvel universe. 

Then Tatum's Remy LeBeau was banished to development hell. "Maybe I was born here," the Ragin' Cajun tells Wade Wilson (Reynolds) and Logan (Jackman) in Deadpool & Wolverine, where Tatum makes his long-awaited debut as the thief-turned-X-Man in the Void (a "metaphysical junkyard" where abandoned or forgotten franchises go to die). 

The role was a decade in the making for the Magic Mike star, who was in the room when Reynolds screened the first footage from his own passion project at Comic-Con: the first Deadpool.

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(Photo: Marvel Studios via Ryan Reynolds on Instagram)

"Gambit is a guy Chan was born to play. His story is similar to mine in that he spent a decade trying to put the most comic-accurate version of Gambit on the big screen," Reynolds wrote on Instagram, posting photos of Tatum in his Gambit gear. "Remy LeBeau is grafted to his soul and needs to come out and deal. And Gambit found his author in Chan. He's one of the coolest, smartest characters in comics and still largely unexplored."

"I want more — and from what I saw in theaters, you do too," Reynolds continued of the Marvel Studios blockbuster that is on deck to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. "Having the chance to say goodbye to some of these heroes is as important as having new characters to root for... and rooting for Gambit is easy. Rooting for Chan is even easier. He's one of the greatest, hardest working, kindest people in this entire industry. I couldn't be more thrilled to see @channingtatum pull Gambit from the dead and bring him to life at the perfect time and perfect way."

Reynolds' post comes after Tatum, who previously made a cameo in the Shawn Levy-directed Free Guy, expressed his appreciation by sharing two photos taken in 2015 and 2024.

"I sat in the audience when Ryan showed his first peek of Deadpool 1 to the world and I think I ran back stage right after and found him and I think I just hugged him and was like holy s--- you did it man. It's perfect," Tatum recalled. "I didn't know him really at all back then. But since then I can say that there is almost no one that has had my back in this industry more than Ryan."


"I thought I had lost Gambit forever. But he fought for me and Gambit. I will owe him probably forever," Tatum's post continued. "Cause I'm not sure how I could ever do something that would be equal to what this has meant to me. I love ya buddy. Shawn Levy as well. Truly such a brilliant creator on every single level. All things happen for a reason. I'm so grateful to be in this movie. It's a masterpiece in my opinion. And just pure bad ass joy. I was literally screaming in the theater. LFG!!"

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The Jump Street star was first announced to play the title role in Fox's Gambit movie in 2014. After the X-Men spinoff passed through the hands of filmmakers like Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean), X-Men franchise producer Simon Kinberg said in 2019 that the movie was among the projects "being evaluated" following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Though Tatum was reported to have approached directors Bennett Miller (Moneyball), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Gareth Evans (The Raid), and J.C. Chandor (Kraven the Hunter) to helm the long-gestating Gambit movie, the project was eventually cancelled.

Levy has since shared a behind-the-scenes cast photo with Tatum's fellow surprise Deadpool & Wolverine cameos Blade (Wesley Snipes), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), and X-23 (Dafne Keen).

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