Chris Hemsworth Was Nearly Cast as Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Gambit’s feature film debut was not the most auspicious one in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Chris Hemsworth was nearly the man behind the Cajun accent. Hemsworth spoke with Variety and revealed that he nearly got the role that went to Taylor Kitsch in the much-derided 2009 Wolverine solo film.

Talking about the roles that he nearly got but ultimately missed out on, Hemsworth said, “I got very close to GI Joe. I got very close to Gambit in the Wolverine X-Men movies. At the time I was upset. I was running out of money. But if I played either of those characters, I wouldn’t have been able to play Thor.”

It all worked out fairly well for Hemsworth of course, as he eventually ended up playing the Thunder God in the MCU. However, during his first film in the role, Hemsworth said he had a lot of doubts as to whether he was going to pull it off. He said, “I’ve never been able to sit back and be in the moment, it was about: Am I going to get recast? Are they even going to make a sequel? Is anyone going to turn up to see the film?”

As it turned out, people did because Thor went on to become one of the cornerstones of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Hemsworth’s solo franchise has grossed nearly $2 billion worldwide all by itself between the three films.