Doug Liman is no longer directing Gambit. The Mr. and Mrs. Smith director has moved off Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men spin-off, which still has Channing Tatum attached to star.

Insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter the studio is still intent on starting production in January and has Josh Zetumer on writing duties. A source describes split as a “mutual parting of ways.”

A search is already underway for a new director to helm the project that tells of a New Orleans-based mutant with the power to manipulate kinetic energy and whose weapons include a staff and a deck of playing cards.

OCTOBER 05, 2017 3:40pm PT by Borys Kit, Aaron Couch

Gore Verbinski in Talks to Direct Channing Tatum's 'X-Men' Spinoff 'Gambit'

The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' filmmaker would helm the film about the card-throwing mutant.

Gambit is closing in on a new captain.

Gore Verbinski, the director behind the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, is in talks to direct Gambit.

The movie kick-starts the stalled project that has seen Doug Liman and Rupert Wyatt come and go as helmers on the long-in-development X-Men spinoff. Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Wyatt exited in October 2015 while Liman left in August 2016.

Channing Tatum is attached to star in the film as the New Orleans-based mutant with the power to manipulate kinetic energy and whose weapons include a staff and a deck of playing cards.

Simon Kinberg, Tatum and his partner Reid Carolin are among those producing Gambit.

The movie project comes as 20th Century Fox has been expanding the big-screen presence of its X-Men properties, with 2018 seeing the release of New Mutants (April 13), Deadpool 2 (June 1) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Nov. 2).

Gambit currently has no release date.

Lizzy Caplan Joining Channing Tatum in ‘Gambit’ (EXCLUSIVE)
By Brent Lang @BrentALang

Lizzy Caplan is in talks to join the cast of “Gambit,” Variety has learned. The “Masters of Sex” star will play the female lead in the superhero movie. Details of her part are being kept under wraps.

The X-Men spinoff stars Channing Tatum as Gambit, a ragin’ Cajun whose ability to control kinetic energy enables him to weaponize playing cards and other projectiles. He’s also pretty handy with a bō staff. In the comics, Gambit was a member of the Thieves Guild before joining the X-Men. “Pirates of the Caribbean” director Gore Verbinski will slide behind the camera on the film. It’s eyeing a Feb. 14, 2019 debut. Fox is releasing the film as part of its continued expansion of the cinematic mutant universe.

Caplan is an Emmy nominee for “Masters of Sex,” the acclaimed Showtime drama about sex researchers that aired from 2013 to 2016. Her film credits include “Cloverfield,” “127 Hours,” “Now You See Me 2,” and “Allied.” Her upcoming projects include the mini-series “Das Boot” and “Extinction,” a science-fiction thriller film with Michael Pena.


Gambit previously appeared in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” but he was played by a different actor, Taylor Kitsch. A standalone film has been in development for some time, attracting directors such as Doug Liman and Rupert Wyatt at various points in its gestation.

A spokesperson for Fox declined to comment. Caplan is represented by WME and Viewpoint PR.

Her film credits include “Cloverfield,” “127 Hours,” “Now You See Me 2,” and “Allied.”

Gore Verbinski, who had come aboard to direct the long-in-the-works X-Men spinoff Gambit, is pulling off of the movie. This was an amicable split, we hear, owing to scheduling issues. Channing Tatum remains aboard as the lead role.

Finally, Gambit is seeing its release date move from Feb. 14, 2019, to June 7, 2019. The Channing Tatum vehicle just lost its director — Gore Verbinski exited Thursday — and the search is on for a replacement.

Finally, Gambit is seeing its release date move from Feb. 14, 2019, to Never. The Channing Tatum vehicle just lost its director — Gore Verbinski exited Thursday — and the search is on for a replacement.

Omega Underground recently revealed that Gambit‘s March production start in New Orleans had indeed been scrapped after the exit of director Gore Verbinski.

We’ve now learned that the release date shuffles from February 14th, 2019 to July 7th, 2019 was more than moving out of the way of Sony’s Silver and Black, out on February 8th, 2019. Fox is now planning on delaying the filming start until sometime in the summer.

This is a detail we mentioned in our report about the March start being given the ax and it looks like it’s indeed when the studio intends production to begin.

A start in August could make sense based on the previous production/release schedule for the film. However, we haven’t learned updated production dates outside of the summer start.

We pondered hypothetically if production would move from New Orleans to the franchise’s home base in Montreal. But that doesn’t seem to be the case as NOLA is still set to be the main filming location.

There was also an estimated budget of $155 million making the rounds but that was for an earlier incarnation (Wyatt or Liman’s version), I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if that number has been greatly scaled back.

Gambit is without a director but Channing Tatum remains on as star/producer. This delay will give the studio a bit of time to figure out who’ll direct and make sure everyone on is on the same page before cameras roll.