The Gambit solo movie has come back from the dead more times than Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers combined. Though Channing Tatum has remained a constant, the film has cycled through pretty much every available director in Hollywood, coming close to full production on multiple occasions before creative clashes and scheduling conflicts sent the studio back to the drawing board. But things have been looking promising as of late. Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski signed on to helm and a release date of February 14th, 2019 was announced. Then, Fox sold the X-Men to Disney.
When I heard that news, I assumed that the game was finally up for Gambit. After all, Disney and Marvel Studios are sure to be planning their own take on the X-Universe and I’m betting that a solo Gambit movie isn’t exactly high up on their list of priorities. So, it’s with some surprise that we’ve learned that things are still trucking along nicely, with casting for the supporting characters now underway.
The news comes courtesy of That Hashtag Show and consists of a casting call for a character called ‘Butler,’ described as a “supporting character (30-40) Rosa’s fiancé, villain with metrosexual charm. Should be physically imposing.” I’ve gotta admit, a physically imposing metrosexual villain sounds intriguing if nothing else, and the site theorizes that the character could be Donyell Taylor, Bella Boudreaux’s rebound after her romance turns sour with Gambit. In the comics, he’s known as Bandit and the slightly disturbing sounding Night Thrasher.
The ink is still wet on the Disney/Fox deal and it doesn’t seem as if they’ve made any concrete decisions yet on which Fox X-Universe projects they’re going to scrap and which they’ll continue. Ordinarily, I’d be predicting that, despite this casting update, Gambit isn’t going anywhere. But the production has displayed cockroach-like tenacity for over a decade now, so who knows? It just might make it to the big screen yet.