Though few can rival Matthew McConaughey in the realm of “career renaissance” at the moment, Channing Tatum has undergone a fascinating transformation over the past few years.  He first broke out as a model-slash-actor in the first Step Up, but he began branching out with Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film Haywire.  He subsequently collaborated with Soderbergh on two more films to excellent results—Magic Mike and Side Effects—and proved himself a very skilled comedic actor with turns in 21 Jump Street and This Is the End.  His upcoming films range from dark drama (Foxcatchter) to hard sci-fi/fantasy (Jupiter Ascending), and there are also a few more exciting prospects on the horizon.

During a recent interview with MTV, Tatum revealed that he has indeed met about playing Gambit in a potential X-Men spinoff film, expressing his love for the character and willingness to tackle the role.  He also provided an update on Magic Mike 2, saying the sequel won’t be as darkly dramatic as Soderbergh’s first film and that he expects the entire cast to return.  Hit the jump for much more.  Magic Mike 2 opens July 3, 2015.

While speaking with MTV, Tatum revealed that he has met with X-Men producer Lauren Schuler Donner about possibly playing Gambit in an X-Men movie:

“I met with Lauren Schuler Donner.  I would love—Gambit’s my really only X-Men that I’ve ever loved.  I [mean] I’ve loved them all, they’re all great, [but] I don’t know I guess just being from down south—my dad’s from Louisiana and I’m from Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida—I don’t know I just related to him.  He’s just kind of a suave; he’s the most un-X-Men X-Man who’s ever been in X-Men, other than maybe Wolverine.  He’s kind of like the anti-hero; he’s a thief.  He’s not even like a hero, he’s kind of walking the line of grey.  He loves women and drinking and smoking, he’s just a cool guy that happens to have a good moral center."

Tatum seemed enthused about the prospect of tackling the role, saying if everything works out down the line, he would be more than willing to sign on:

“I hope it does [come together].  You never know, it’s a weird industry.  If the stars align, I would play it.  I’m already working on the accent.”

There’s been no confirmation of a Gambit movie being in active development, but the X-Men franchise is alive and kicking with next month’s massive-scale X-Men: Days of Future Past and the already-dated sequel X-Men: Apocalypse, and Donner recently expressed her desire to make a Gambit spinoff film.  If DOFP does huge business at the box office next month (and I’d be shocked if it didn’t), it’s not a stretch to imagine Fox moving Gambit into the “priority” stage of development—especially since Tatum is so eager to lead the project.

As for more imminent projects, Tatum reiterated that he and his writing/producing partner Reid Carolin are deep in the scripting stage on Magic Mike 2:

“[We started writing] probably like two months ago.  With my partner Reid I was like, ‘Ah it’ll write itself, it’s fine’—not the case.  Not the case at all.”

A recent report revealed that Gregory Jacobs, Soderbergh’s longtime First Assistant Director, will be taking the helm of Magic Mike 2 and production is being eyed to begin this fall, but many have wondered how many of the first film’s castmembers will be returning.  According to Tatum, the plan is for all of them—Matthew McConaughey included—to reprise their roles:

“I think everyone’s gonna be back, I think.  Obviously no one’s deals are done which is always kind of scary.”

Tatum confirmed that Magic Mike 2 will indeed be a road movie, but he also said they’re intent on making it a bit less dark than the first film:

“This one will be a road trip movie.  Without giving a lot away, we don’t wanna make it a really serious, slice-of-life movie.  We want to have reality in it, but we don’t want to make it some dark drama.  There was some darkness in the last one that I think surprised people and shocked people.  This one, we want there to be a lot of conflict and a lot of struggle, but we also want there to be a shit-ton of fun.  A shit-ton of just ridiculous stuff that you would never see in a movie.”

Personally, I found the dark drama of the Soderbergh’s film to be part of its brilliance, but I’m interested to see what Tatum and Carloin put together for the follow-up.

Watch Tatum's interview with MTV below, which gets into Magic Mike 2 and Gambit around the 2:36 mark.