During a recent appearance on Entertainment Weekly’s Awardist podcast, Ryan Reynolds explained why Channing Tatum’s ‘Gambit’ could be the next ‘Deadpool.’
“I honestly don’t know what goes on behind closed doors in the bookkeeping sessions at Marvel, but I do know that they’re obsessed with him in that role,” the actor said. “It’s kind of like the same situation I went through. Once you show that it works well, that’s really what they need. Sometimes they just need to see it in action.”
In 2014, test footage of Reynolds as Deadpool leaked, and fans loved it so much that 20th Century Fox approved the 2016 ‘Deadpool’ movie. Tatum appeared as Gambit, the Cajun with energy powers, in this year’s ‘Deadpool & Wolverine.’
Tatum was originally set to play Gambit in 2006’s ‘X-Men: The Last Stand,’ but the role was cut. Later, due to a scheduling conflict, Taylor Kitsch played Gambit in ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine,’ which also introduced Reynolds as Deadpool.
For the past decade, Tatum has been linked to a possible solo Gambit film, though it’s been delayed with different directors attached. “Gambit is a guy Chan was born to play. His story is similar to my road on Deadpool – in that Chan spent a decade trying to put the most comic-accurate version of Gambit on the big screen,” Reynolds also previously shared.
The actor continued, “Remy LeBeau is grafted to his soul and needs to come out and deal. Some characters can only exist with a one in a billion pairing and this is it. Gambit found his author in Chan. He’s one of the coolest, smartest characters in comics and still largely unexplored.”
Reynolds concluded, “I want more — and from what I saw in theaters, you do too. Having the chance to say goodbye to some of these heroes is as important as having new characters to root for… and rooting for Gambit is easy. Rooting for Chan is even easier. He’s one of the greatest, hardest working, kindest people in this entire industry. I couldn’t be more thrilled to see Channing Tatum pull Gambit from the dead and bring him to life at the perfect time and perfect way.”
Tatum thanked Reynolds for letting him play Gambit in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine.’ He posted two Comic-Con photos on Instagram, almost ten years apart, both with him wearing a Gambit shirt. Tatum said he admired Reynolds for bringing ‘Deadpool’ to life and now sees him as a big supporter.
