How Gambit’s solo film unraveled: Channing Tatum on three different directors
Channing Tatum opens up about why his standalone Gambit movie never happened — and the culprit isn’t what you’d think.
After popping up as Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine , Channing Tatum is finally saying out loud what longtime X-Men fans suspected: the solo movie unraveled because it could never stay on track. In a new conversation with ScreenRant, he says the first director left after a clash with the studio and things snowballed from there.
"We had three different directors that were signed up to do it, and the first one, the studio, Fox, they had a fallout, so that one didn't work out."
The project cycled through filmmakers for years, even as Tatum kept the faith — and the trench coat — ready to go. With Tatum now expected to resurface as Gambit in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, the postmortem on his long-stalled standalone is back on the table.
Three directors, no movie
- Rupert Wyatt — first to board; exited after the fallout with Fox, per Tatum.
- Doug Liman — later attached and departed as development dragged.
- Gore Verbinski — the last filmmaker to circle the movie before walking away.
Between the director churn, script work that never quite clicked, and start dates that wouldn’t hold, the film stayed stuck in place. Tatum says each handoff reset momentum that never recovered.
Verbinski’s take
Verbinski, best known for the Pirates of the Caribbean films and the Oscar- winning Rango, echoed the creative gridlock in a separate interview with Collider.
"The script we never got to a place where everybody was in agreement."
He also pointed to timing issues, saying the studio wanted to move quickly while his schedule didn’t line up — another logjam for a movie already wobbling in development.
Tatum first promoted a Gambit solo film onstage at Comic-Con 2014.