Gambit Concept Art Shows What X-Men Spin-off Would Have Looked Like

A Gambit film was in the works for some time when 20th Century Fox’s owned the film rights for the X-Men. While a movie was never made, new storyboard frames have come out depicting how the project might have looked.

Recently, fans discovered storyboard frames on artist Anthony Winn’s ArtStation page, depicting various “pitch mood boards” that show us a random scene from the film. In the boards, Gambit — who looks very much like Channing Tatum, who would have played the hero — can be seen throwing a kinetically charged bottle of alcohol into a fence, which explodes on impact.

The history of Fox’s attempt to make a Gambit film is a long one, with Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin attached to the project since early 2014. The project had various directors sign on to helm the feature, including Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) at one point. However, things never panned out for the film, and following the merger between Disney and Fox, it now seems unlikely that the project will ever be made.

The fact that a Gambit film was never made left the actor “traumatized” for a bit, especially due to how close he and director Reid Carolin were to making the project a reality.

“Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized,” Tatum said in February. “I shut off my Marvel machine. I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him.”