Gambit Has Found Its Leading Actress (original) (raw)
After years of languishing in development hell and suffering several behind-the-scenes setbacks, Gambit finally looks like it's ready to get off the ground. Now scheduled for early 2019, Channing Tatum will succeed Taylor Kitsch as the new cinematic Ragin' Cajun. So far Tatum has been the only actor officially confirmed to star in Gambit, but there's word that Masters of Sex actress Lizzy Caplan is being looked at to co-star alongside the Magic Mike performer.
Lizzy Caplan is reportedly in talks to join Gambit as the female lead, though no details were provided about who she would be playing. Variety's report also didn't mention anything about Lea Seydoux, who was cast as love interest Bella Donna Boudreaux back in 2015. However, given all the issues Gambit has dealt with since then, it's unclear if Seydoux is still involved with the production, and subsequently, we don't know yet if Caplan would be brought in as Seydoux's replacement or if she would play a different character if a deal is reached.
Assuming Lizzy Caplan does join Gambit, this would arguably be her biggest cinematic project yet, having previously appeared in movies like Cloverfield, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Interview, The Night Before, Now You See Me 2 and Allied, among others. Caplan can next be seen cameoing as herself in The Disaster Artist, and she'll costar alongside Michael Pena and Mike Colter next year in Extinction. In the TV realm, Caplan's credits include Freaks and Geeks, True Blood, The Class and Party Down, but she's best known for portraying Virginia Johnson on Showtime's Masters of Sex.
Following the success of fellow X-Men spinoffs Deadpool and Logan, Gambit went through major re-writes earlier this year, and now Gore Verbinski has been tapped to direct the movie, filling the position once occupied by Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman. No official plot details have been revealed yet, but it was rumored back in September that the main story would revolve around Gambit, a.k.a. Remy LeBeau, being hired to steal a mysterious trunk from the Boudreaux clan, the Thieves Guild's rival organization. Other X-Men characters who were rumored to appear include Dani Moonstar, Multiple Man, Rictor and Marrow. Although Nathaniel Essex, a.k.a. Mister Sinister, was also mentioned in that report to appear in Gambit (having already been teased in X-Men: Apocalypse), another rumor broke last month claiming that Candra will serve as the main antagonist.
Gambit opens in theaters on February 14, 2019. Make sure to look through our X-Men movies guide to see what other projects this franchise has coming up, and as for what will be released in theaters a little sooner, check out our 2018 premiere guide.
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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.