Channing Tatum is super excited for Gambit

Los Angeles  - Channing Tatum is "super excited" to be starring in X-Men spin-off Gambit after seeing the first draft of the script.

The 35-year-old actor has been allowed a read through of the story by Josh Zetumer - whose previous work includes the RoboCop remake - and is convinced the Marvel superhero movie is going to be "killer".

Talking to the latest issue of Empire magazine, Channing said: "Josh just turned in the first draft of the script, and its killer. None of us were sure how he was going to deal with the X-Men world. But we're going to be changing some of the tropes of these movies. It's always about saving the world, but maybe we're going to shift things a little bit. There's so many ways you can take (an origin story). You could do it like Batman Begins, or a different take and go the Guardians of the Galaxy route. All I can say is, I'm super excited."

The Magic Mike XXL star is confirmed to play Gambit and he admits landing the role meant a lot to him because he relates to the Southern character on many levels.

He explained: "I love Gambit. I grew up in the South; my father's from Louisiana. We'd go to New Orleans and I heard all the dialects. It felt so different from the rest of America; it has its own ancient culture. So I identified with that. And he always felt the most real of the X-Men to me."

Gambit is expected to be released in October 2016.