Channing Tatum's dream to play Gambit has come true! "X-Men" franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner confirmed the news this morning. The "Magic Mike" star previously expressed interest in playing the role.
"I would love it," Tatum told MTV. "Gambit is really the only X-Man I've ever loved. I mean I've loved them all...they're all great, but I guess from being down south...I just related to him."
The "Step Up" actor also revealed he had a meeting about the role in April. Donner is said to have confirmed the news to Total Film.
"Well you know he's a rogue, Channing," she said.
"He's a rascal, just like Remy LeBeau, and he can handle the action, we all know that. He's got a really good heart, because I know him personally, I did a movie with him."
Donner added, "So I think he'll be great, he'll be great for Gambit, and he's a southerner too, he's not from New Orleans but he is a southerner and he understands that world, and you know Gambit loves New Orleans."
Tatum also notes he respects Taylor Kitsch, who portrayed Gambit in 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
"No knock on Taylor Kitsch, though, 'cause I actually like his Gambit, but I've always lived around Cajun people," he said of his desire to play the character.
"X-Men: Days of Future Past" hits theaters May 23, and "X-Men: Apocalypse" premieres in 2016. Director Bryan Singer recently teased the idea of bringing Gambit onto the big screen.
"I'm considering Gambit and potentially a young Nightcrawler for 'Apocalypse,'" he told Spanish publication Cine Premiere. "I was going to have Nightcrawler [in 'Days of Future Past'] and even wrote a scene, but I felt that we were forcing too many mutants into the story."
Are you excited to see Tatum as Gambit? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!