Simon Kinberg is certainly the busy man. Not only is he one of the key architects of X-MEN, but he also has involvement in the STAR WARS franchise. But it’s neither of these franchises that we’re here to talk about today, but rather two X-MEN tangential properties: DEADPOOL and GAMBIT.

The former film had its inaugural entry in the inevitable franchise hit earlier this year, and man was it a hit. The flick hit $750 million on a $50-some odd million budget, securing a sequel for the R-rated character. Speaking with Slash Film at a TV Critics Association panel, Kinberg talked a bit on what we can expect from DEADPOOL 2.

“I think Deadpool 2 will comment on anything that’s happening in movies today especially in superhero movies. The sort of glut or saturation of these movies and the proliferation of sequels is definitely something we’ll play around with.”

Perhaps the biggest question to come out of all the DEADPOOL 2 speculation, however, is who would play the role of Cable. Rumors ranged from Stephen Lang to Dolph Lindgren as to who was being considered for the part, and some went so far as to speculate that Fox has the role cast. 

Kinberg denied these rumors:

“I’ve seen rumors from about everybody from Arnold Schwarzenegger to I can’t even remember. We haven’t cast him is the truth.”

Next up, Kinberg talked about GAMBIT, the Channing Tatum vehicle that can’t seem to get a jump start. For the longest time, it was slated to come out this year, but following the success of DEADPOOL, it seemed like Fox pulled it from the slate in order to cut the budget. So what’s the status of the film right now? It sounds like it’s up in the air:

“I think the truth is when you have these movies that need a very special and unique tone, it takes a little while to find that tone. DEADPOOL feels like it exploded out of nowhere but it was a ten-year development process on that movie. I think it was honed over those ten years. I hope that GAMBIT doesn’t take ten years but it takes a little honing to get that tone and that voice exactly right. The character has such a specific voice in the comic in the same way that DEADPOOL has a specific voice in the comic, that we want to make sure that we capture that voice on the page. Really it’s just about getting a screenplay that is worthy of that character and I think we’re really close right now.”

At least we can rest easy knowing that Fox isn’t rushing GAMBIT out the door for the sake of having a GAMBIT film. Until then, we can enjoy DEADPOOL 2!

What are your thoughts on Kinberg’s Cable casting comments or on GAMBIT’s non-progress? Let us know in the comments down below!

DEADPOOL 2 hits theaters on January 12, 2018.

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SOURCE: Slash Film