Deadpool & Wolverine delivers major surprise with X-Men casting

Channing Tatum has an extended cameo role in the Marvel Studios blockbuster, playing iconic comic book character Gambit, who recently played a major part in acclaimed animated series X-Men '97 on Disney Plus.

While the former Magic Mike actor's appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine is certainly one of the most memorable celebrity cameos, it could prove a bit confusing to those who aren't brushed up on their Hollywood hijinks.

Never fear! We're here to explain the story behind Tatum's long-desired Gambit movie that never saw the light of day.

Why is Channing Tatum playing Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine?

Channing Tatum's history with Marvel's Gambit actually dates all the way back to 2006, when he was cast as the character for a cameo appearance in X-Men: The Last Stand that was ultimately scrapped.

The actor remained in contention to play the role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but could not commit to the production due to a clash of filming dates with GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra.

Therefore, Taylor Kitsch (Battleship) bagged the part of Gambit for his first and – until now – only live-action appearance, signing a multi-picture deal that went unfulfilled after X-Men Origins was panned by fans and critics alike.

The film's relative failure brought Tatum back into the conversation and, as of 2014, X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner was actively developing a solo movie with the Step Up star.

In May 2015, Tatum told Empire: "I love Gambit. I grew up in the South; my father’s from Louisiana. We’d go to New Orleans and I heard all the dialects. It felt so different from the rest of America; it has its own ancient culture. So I identified with that.

"And he always felt the most real of the X-Men to me. He’s kind of a tortured soul and he’s not a good guy. But he’s not a bad guy, either. He walks his own path. And of course he plays cards and drinks and is a martial-arts badass!"

However, Gambit languished in development hell for several years, churning through multiple directors – including Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) – as creatives and execs struggled to see eye-to-eye.

The film was still in development right up until 2019, when it met an abrupt end after Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which saw the cancellation of numerous long-gestating projects – Gambit among them.

Obviously, Disney and Marvel Studios wanted the freedom to do whatever they like with the X-Men characters, rather than being beholden to deals made many years ago. But Tatum found the news tough to come to terms with.

In 2022, he told Variety: "Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatised. I shut off my Marvel machine. 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."

His producing partner, Reid Carolin, revealed that their canned Gambit feature would have been a "romantic comedy superhero movie", perhaps playing on the character's longtime comic book romance with Rogue (played by Anna Paquin in the films).

Hopefully, this appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine will give Tatum closure on his career disappointment, with the actor cracking multiple jokes in the movie about how his incarnation of Gambit never actually got off the ground.

Most notably, he makes reference to having been born in The Void, rather than ending up there later in life, reflecting how his time in the role was over before it began.

Deadpool & Wolverine is out now in cinemas.

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