Warning: SPOILERS for X-Men ’97 and Deadpool & Wolverine are ahead!
If you’re an X-Men fan and somehow predicted that at the start of 2024 that this would be Gambit’s year to shine, then congratulations, you’re a soothsayer. First, the Disney+ subscription-exclusive series X-Men ’97 gave Remy LeBeau some great moments in the first half of Season 1, and his death in “Remember It” was one of the most talked-about moments in this opening batch of episodes, if not at the top of the list. Then late last month, Deadpool & Wolverine opened on the 2024 release schedule, and Channing Tatum’s Gambit was one of the big Deadpool 3 cameos. Emi/Emmett Yonemura, who directed “Remember It,” has now shared with CinemaBlend both their notes on Tatum’s Gambit costume, as well as what won them over to the actor’s performance.
Our own Sean O’Connell spoke with Emi/Emmett Yonemura, with their conversation coming almost three months after I spoke with Yonemura and fellow X-Men ’97 director Chase Conley after the Season 1 finale about topics like figuring out how to show Wolverine’s adamantium being ripped from his skeleton and how they wish the “Lifedeath” storyline could have been longer. Now that Deadpool & Wolverine is out, Sean asked Yonemura what they thought of Tatum’s portrayal of Gambit, and they answered:
I loved it. I wasn't sure at first because when they had first even just teased his name years ago, I was like, 'He's not the Cajun.' But then, as soon as he appeared on screen, I was a little like, 'Okay, just bring in the mask a little bit more. Just, you know, bring it forward a little bit more.' But otherwise, when he said ‘Boom' really quietly, I swooned. I was like, 'Okay, he's my Gambit now. He convinced me This guy is great. And you know what? I would watch this movie now.'
Channing Tatum’s Gambit performance comes 15 years after Taylor Kitsch first portrayed the character in live-action for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, from 2014 to 2019, there were numerous attempts to make a Tatum-led Gambit spinoff, only for the project to be scrapped once Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. Fortunately for the Logan Lucky actor, the Deadpool & Wolverine team decided to finally give him the opportunity to play Gambit, where he debuted alongside the return of Wesley Snipes’ Blade, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra and Dafne Keen’s Laura Kinney. Ryan Reynolds has said this was the character Tatum was “born to play,” and now we can count Emi/Emmett Yonemura among the many supporters for this interpretation of the Ragin’ Cajun.
As the director laid out, originally they weren’t interested in seeing Channing Tatum portray Gambit, but minor nitpicks about his costume aside, Nomemura is fully on board with the Gambit spinoff being revived. Whether or not that will actually happen, or if we’ll even see Tatum’s Gambit again, remains to be seen. After all, Deadpool & Wolverine has officially set up the MCU’s mutant era, and the forthcoming X-Men reboot is expected to feature all-new versions of these superheroes and supervillains. Still, that doesn’t necessarily rule out Tatum’s Gambit popping up again in another one of the MCU projects leaning into the Marvel multiverse, like the next two Avengers movies.
Deadpool & Wolverine is still playing in theaters and has become the second movie of the year to cross $1 billion worldwide, following Inside Out 2. X-Men ’97 Season 2 will premiere on Disney+ at a yet-to-be-announced date, and Season 3 is in development.
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