The backstory behind the canceled Gambit film from Marvel 

Gambit would have been the fourteenth film in the X-Men franchise, had it not been scrapped amidst the Disney-Fox fiasco. Starring and produced by Channing Tatum, the film was removed from the release schedule after Disney purchased Fox.

The movie would have been based on an X-Men character, Gambit, who was supposed to have been portrayed by Tatum. The script had been written by Josh Zetumer based on a story by Chris Claremont, who created the titular character.

The X-Men is undoubtedly the most popular superhero team of all time, but not all members of the team have achieved the popularity Wolverine has. With Wolverine-centric films on the rise, Gambit would have finally brought into the spotlight another mutant, but sadly that was not to be.

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Why was Gambit not produced?

After making guest appearances in X-Men movies Gambit would properly make his live-action debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine where Taylor Kitsch played the character. But with the live-action being a flop, Fox came up with new plans to launch the character in 2014 with a solo film starring Channing Tatum in the lead role as Gambit.

Sadly, for five years the film was in development before ultimately being scrapped when Disney acquired Fox and Marvel Studios requisitioned the rights to the X-Men franchise. Writer Reid Carolin has commented on the movie revealing that it would have been set in the character's home in New Orleans. Speaking to The Playlist, he said,

“We made this world in New Orleans that was a city of mutants that didn’t care about saving the world. They went there so they could use their powers to party and hook up, and their hands could fry the grease at MacDonald’s and whatever else and the hardest thing for them to do was to fall in love because they could read each other’s minds, or when they got into a fight, they could turn a table into a grenade and send their partner to the hospital or whatever. So, it was all this kind of low-level mutant fights and disagreements and we set in this world of the Mafia—almost kind of like a mutant ‘Goodfellas‘ in New Orleans.”

Channing Tatum has also reflected on the decade he spent trying to get Gambit produced. As reported in Vanity Fair, he said,

“It got swallowed up into Disney by way of Marvel when they bought Fox, and ultimately I just think that the tone of the movie we wanted to make was very far from what they wanted to do — or, you know, maybe they’re waiting to see how they do it with us or without us. We call every once in a while, but we’ve got to spiritually, emotionally, kind of mentally let it go.”

Following the cancellation, Carolin also commented on the tone of the X-Men spinoff, describing it as an R-rated romantic superhero comedy, according to IndieWire.

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About the X-Men character

Gambit is a superhero character from Marvel Comics, and he is commonly known in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artists Jim Lee and Mike Collins, the character first appeared in 1990 in The Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 and The Uncanny X-Men #266.

Gambit is a mutant and his super-human abilities include mentally creating, controlling, and manipulating pure kinetic energy. He is also skilled at card throwing, hand-to-hand combat, and using a bō staff.

He was a part of a thieves' guild before joining the X-Men and for this reason, few of his team members trusted him. He later married Rogue, after a tumultuous relationship. Being a Cajun from New Orleans, Gambit was also extremely proud of his heritage.

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While the cancellation of the movie left fans disappointed, Tatum and Carolin have often expressed their desire for an opportunity to bring back the project. As of now, Marvel's plans with X-Men are not known but with the studio now bringing forth new characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there may be a chance Kevin Feige revives the project for another go.