Channing Tatum says scrapped Gambit movie was like "losing a friend"

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"I loved that character. It was just too sad"

Channing Tatum in Logan Lucky
(Image credit: Fingerprint Releasing)

Channing Tatum has spoken about his scrapped Gambit movie – and how its cancelation has made him unable to watch any other Marvel movies.

In the Marvel comics, Gambit is one of the X-Men – a mutant with the ability to mentally create, control, and manipulate kinetic energy to his desire. The character has only appeared in one live-action movie, 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in which he was played by Taylor Kitsch (Tatum wasn't available at the time). 

“Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized, I shut off my Marvel machine," the actor told Variety. "I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him."

Variety described the project as "a raunchy stand-alone superhero movie about the X-Men" with a similar tone to Deadpool.

Meanwhile, Tatum's upcoming projects include The Lost City, co-starring Sandra Bullock and Daniel Radcliffe, and a re-team with Steven Soderbergh for Magic Mike 3.

However, he can next be seen in Dog, which he also co-directed – it arrives on the big screen on February 18. In the meantime, check out our list of the other major movie release dates to look forward to in 2022.

Emily Garbutt
Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related. I help bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, as well as helming our Big Screen Spotlight column. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.