Ryan Reynolds Says Channing Tatum ‘Was Born to Play’ Gambit, Wants to See More of ‘Largely Unexplored’ Character

Tatum finally got to play the X-Men character in 'Deadpool & Wolverine'

Now that Deadpool & Wolverine has been in theaters for 10 days, Ryan Reynolds is busy thanking the A-listers who made cameos in the hit Marvel movie, including Channing Tatum.

Tatum, 44, played an important role in the movie as Gambit/Remy LeBeau, an X-Men character he spent over a decade trying to bring to the silver screen. Thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine, that dream finally came to fruition.

“Gambit is a guy Chan was born to play,” Reynolds, 47, wrote on Instagram Monday, Aug. 5, alongside a gallery of photos of Tatum working on Deadpool & Wolverine. “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.”

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“Remy LeBeau is grafted to his soul and needs to come out and deal,” Reynolds continued, “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.”

“I want more — and from what I saw in theaters, you do too,” Reynolds added, before going on to praise Tatum’s work ethic. In the end, Reynolds said he “couldn’t be more thrilled” to see Tatum finally bring the card-throwing hero to life.

Tatum had been linked to Gambit since at least 2006, when he was considered to play the beloved ‘90s character in X-Men: The Last Stand. The character was ultimately written out of the movie and Taylor Kitsch was cast in the part for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), which was the first time Reynolds played Deadpool.

Just as Reynolds sought to play a comic-accurate version of Deadpool, Tatum hoped to do the same for Gambit. Multiple directors came and went until 2019 when Disney completed its purchase of 20th Century Fox and the movie was canceled.

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Related: Deadpool & Wolverine Director Shawn Levy Reveals He's the Godfather of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's Son Olin

In 2015, Tatum attended the San Diego Comic-Con panel during which Reynolds showed the first footage of the original Deadpool. He wore a Gambit T-shirt to the panel, similar to the one he wore at Comic-Con this year, and shared a picture from that day on Instagram on July 29.

Tatum thanked Reynolds and Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy for their support and for bringing his vision of Gambit to life.

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"I thought I had lost Gambit forever. But he fought for me and Gambit,” Tatum wrote. ”I will owe him probably forever. Cause I’m not sure how I could ever do something that would be equal to what this has meant to me. I love ya buddy. Shawn Levy as well. Truly such a brilliant creator on every single level. All things happen for a reason. I’m so grateful to be in this movie. It’s a masterpiece in my opinion. And just pure bad a– joy. I was literally screaming in the theater. LFG!!”

Deadpool & Wolverine is now in theaters. Tatum’s next movie, Blink Twice, opens on Aug. 23.

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