Following what feels like – and actually is – years of struggles, it looks like 20th Century Fox’s Gambit may finally be close to landing a new director.

As per Deadline, Gore Verbinski is the latest name in the frame to helm the Channing Tatum-starrer. The Pirates of the Caribbean director is believed to be in deep negotiations with Fox for the gig, although he’s certainly not the first name to have held talks with the studio.

Previously, Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rupert Wyatt and Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman both departed the project over various reasons, and since then there has been speculation that The Walking Dead’s Frank Darabont has been in talks, too.

For Gambit as a project, it’s been in development for several years now, although there have been plenty of twists and turns where it looked as if the whole movie may be scrapped altogether. Channing Tatum has long been on board to star as the titular fan favourite mutant, and he is also pegged to produce. In terms of other cast members, the only other announced so far is Lea Seydoux as love interest-cum-villain Bella Boudreaux, although the delays on the project could well throw up questions over Seydoux’s involvement.

The last we’d heard in terms of a solid release date was that Gambit would be released in October 2017 – as in this month! Obviously, Fox casually scrapped that date and so the picture is currently without a release date. Then again, 20th Century Fox have got a whole host of dates booked in for mystery Marvel movies over the next few years; one of which could well be Gambit.

As ever, expect more on all of this as we get it.