Channing Tatum shared insights in a recent cover story with Variety, revealing that his character Gambit will tone down his Cajun accent in the upcoming film “Avengers: Doomsday,” currently in production. Tatum first portrayed the Marvel superhero in last year’s “Deadpool and Wolverine,” after years of attempts to launch a standalone Gambit film at 20th Century Fox.
A notable gag in “Deadpool and Wolverine” involves the difficulty characters have in understanding Gambit’s heavy Cajun accent, with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool humorously asking, “Who’s your dialect coach? The Minions?”
In “Avengers: Doomsday,” viewers can expect a more comprehensible Gambit, as Tatum prepares to confront Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, alongside Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal, Chris Hemsworth, and other Marvel stars. Tatum explained to Variety that studio executives needed to consider how the accent would affect audience understanding as Gambit transitions into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Accent Adjustments and Character Development
“I’m not gonna go full Cajun,” Tatum remarked. “[Directors Anthony and Joe Russo] want things to be funny, but they don’t want to go full ‘Deadpool.’ They want to keep the drama and keep it tight. When Gambit gets serious — when he drops the Mardi Gras mask — things do matter.”
Previously, Tatum elaborated to Access Hollywood that his accent in “Deadpool and Wolverine” was a deliberate choice. “There was very little improv. The Cajun dialect is a very particular one. I grew up in Mississippi and my dad is from New Orleans. So it’s one of those things that I grew up around it, but I’ve never done it. There are certain little isms that are very Cajun-y, but we actually intended it to be somewhat unintelligible. That was sort of the joke.”
“[Ryan would] come up to me and say, ‘I don’t want to know anything that you’re saying on this [take],’ so I just dialed it all the way up,” he added. “And then other ones he’s like, ‘All right, I’ve got to understand what you’re saying now.’”
Behind the Scenes Injury
Details of Gambit’s role in “Avengers: Doomsday” remain largely confidential. However, Tatum did disclose to Variety that he sustained an injury on set, necessitating pain medication and intensive physical therapy. As a result, he had to step back from certain action sequences, opting for close-ups while his stunt double handled the rigorous scenes.
“It’s not about the pain I feel in the moment,” Tatum stated. “It’s knowing I can’t take this back. And now I know what the next six months of my life will be like… I just hate getting old… In my mind, I’m literally still 30 years old — 26, if I’m honest.”
“Avengers: Doomsday” is scheduled for release by Disney and Marvel Studios on December 18, 2026.
