Anna Daniels
There are a number of explanations for why a sixth Gambler movie never made it into production. The fifth film received a lukewarm reception, with TV Guide calling it “lumbering” and Variety noting that “you can feel the effort” behind the filmmaking. It also failed to garner any Emmy nominations, unlike the Reba McEntire co-starring fourth film in the series. Given that Gambler V: Playing for Keeps aired 14 years after the first installment, it seems likely that the simple answer for why a followup never happened was that the moment had passed.
As Rogers got older, it also likely made less sense for him to star in westerns that required a certain amount of action from their lead characters. It’s well-documented that he suffered from knee and shoulder injuries later in his career which required him to sit during his concerts, and which probably would have made the prospect of returning for another stint as Hawkes make less and less sense as the years went on.
He did tell Jimmy Fallon in a 2011 Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon interview that he had a theoretical plan for how he might return for Hawkes in another outing, which involved the character getting injured in a shootout at the beginning of the film, therefore explaining his limited mobility. However, in 2017, after playing a final farewell concert in Nashville, Rogers retired from show business for good in order to spend time with his family, confirming that there would not be a sixth Gambler film. In March 2020, he passed away at the age of 81, finally breaking even… but in his entire illustrious career, we found an ace that we could keep.
Written by: Looper
