At a Tampa Bay Comic Con panel, former X-Men: The Animated Series star Chris Potter revealed he had wanted to play Gambit in the original live-action X-Men films but never got the chance, and later endorsed the idea of a new actor stepping into the role for Marvel's upcoming X-Men movie. Potter, who voiced Gambit in the 1990s cartoon and now plays Cable in X-Men '97, reflected on auditioning for Cyclops in the first X-Men film while secretly hoping Gambit would eventually get his own big-screen moment, a wish that never materialised in the original trilogy.

Potter recalled meeting producers and director Bryan Singer during his Cyclops audition, joking that he is now too old to play Gambit and could instead play "his grandfather." Gambit was largely absent from the original X-Men films, appearing only briefly in X-Men Origins: Wolverine via Taylor Kitsch, though Channing Tatum later played the character in Deadpool & Wolverine and is set to reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel has already confirmed much of its new X-Men film's cast, including Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops and Adam Driver as Mister Sinister, while A.J. LoCascio currently voices Gambit in X-Men '97.