Channing Tatum is GAMBIT

Sometimes, dreams really do come true in Hollywood. It’s not every actor who could get his dream role simply by asking for it, but that appears to be what happened here. Of course, it helps that it is an A-list star such as Channing Tatum doing the asking.

For those of you who have not been following the story, Channing Tatum expressed an interest in bringing his favorite X-Man, Gambit, to the big screen during a White House Down press junket. In return, Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of the X-Men films, showed great enthusiasm for a Gambit film starring Tatum. All that was standing in the way was studio approval.

Well, it looks like Fox gave the go ahead, because Shuler Donner confirmed Tatum as Gambit in an interview with Total Film on red carpet at the premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past:

Now, some might say that there is some ambiguity in Shuler Donner’s statement. However, The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit was quick to jump on Twitter with a confirmation:

Yes, Channing Tatum will play Gambit. Yes, it will be for a standalone movie. And yes, watch for him to be introduced in X-MEN: APOCALYPSE.

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) May 13, 2014

So it is now thatit is officially official, let’s have a moment of silence for Taylor Kitsch, who had the character pulled out right from under him. Sorry, dude. That must sting.

We’ll have to see if Tatum’s X-Men: Apocalypse role will be a cameo, a supporting role, or a post-credits scene. But whatever it is, it will most likely set up his solo film in some way.

Again, I think this is a savvy move on Fox’s part. With Hugh Jackman making rumblings that his time as Wolverine might be coming to an end, having a popular character from the comics played by an actor with appeal from both genders in the film pipeline as a replacement is a nice bit of security.