The cast of 20th Century Fox’s Gambit spin-off has grown by one. Well, if it was still in some form of development. Actor and comedian Lil Rel Howery revealed that he was once attached to star alongside Channing Tatum. It’s still uncertain who Howery would have portrayed, but his involvement in the first new tidbit on the troubled production we’ve gotten in a long time. He revealed this information during an interview to promote his upcoming Netflix comedy, Bad Trip. He first gave the vague description before confirming it:
So there was a movie that I was attached to with Channing Tatum that we were going to do and whatever happened happened, it was in that world so…I was like ‘Damn man.’
As a reminder, Gambit was a spin-off from the original X-Men franchise that never made it to the big screen. The film got announced in 2014. The project underwent multiple re-writes and experienced many delays over numerous years. After cycling through four directors, including Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman, the movie was officially canceled in 2019.
The only casting, aside from Tatum, was for the female lead. Actresses like Lea Seydoux and Rebecca Ferguson auditioned for the role of Belladonna Boudreaux. Howery, who has had something of a career renaissance since appearing in 2017’s Get Out, was never rumored to be part of the cast. This new revelation, straight from the lion’s mouth, almost makes you wonder what other talent may have been in line to appear in the film had it not been given the boot.
Source: The Illuminerdi, Movieweb
