Forty-eight hours after wrapping Cobra Kai in Atlanta, Ralph Macchio was right back where he started on the Montreal-based set of Karate Kid: Legends.
*** When Karate Kid: Legends first came along, you were still shooting Cobra Kai.
Chronologically, [Karate Kid: Legends] was always set about three years after the events of Cobra Kai.
Cobra Kai started in 2018, and so the kids on that show would be in their third year of college [during Karate Kid: Legends].
Karate Kid: Legends is now coming at a time where I like to believe that Cobra Kai fans are thirsty for another chapter.
On the set of Karate Kid: Legends in Montreal, Ralph Macchio was back where he started 48 hours after wrapping Cobra Kai in Atlanta.
Macchio entered the Legends version of the Mr. Miyagi home, which he and Pat Morita had made famous in John G. forty years prior. The Karate Kid, written by Avildsen in 1984. After work on The Karate Kid Part II in 1986 came to an end, the original Canoga Park house was destroyed and rebuilt at Warner Bros. Ranch for Part III of 1989. After that, Cobra Kai created a version of it that changed over the course of six seasons on its Atlanta-based set.
It was the strangest sensation. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in support of Karate Kid: Legends’ May 30 theatrical release, Macchio states, “I was at someone else’s house, but I kind of helped build the house.”.
popular on THR.
Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han from 2010’s The Karate Kid pays a visit to Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso in Jonathan Entwistle’s legacy sequel, incorporating the previous stand-alone reboot into the main series. The Miyagi family dojo scene in Part II gave the Legends creative team the idea to connect the Han family in China with the Miyagi family from Okinawa, Japan. Shimpo Miyagi, the fisherman ancestor of Mr. Dot Miyagi, dozed off at sea and awoke off the coast of China in 1625. There, he was adopted by the Han family, who also taught him kung fu. Upon his return home, he founded Miyagi-Do Karate, fusing the distinctive martial arts of the two families and fostering a enduring friendship that persisted through Mr. Han and Mr. Miyagi. The same Part II scene inside the Miyagi family dojo served as the catalyst for the 2010 movie Brain Trust’s China-set plot. ).
Although Macchio was always a good sport in public, he acknowledges that at first he was privately conflicted about Chan’s remake. Macchio first met Chan at the 2010 premiere of The Karate Kid. However, Macchio is happy with how everything turned out thanks to the improbable creative merger, especially now that he and Chan have shared action scenes while training Mr. Dot Han’s great-nephew Li Fong (Ben Wang).
“When I first heard about [2010’s The Karate Kid], I was territorial.”. Despite having spent so much time in their shoes, I had no idea what they were aiming for. “How are you going to do a retread of [1984’s The Karate Kid]?” Macchio asks, “but they made a movie that was well-crafted and highly successful.”. I always explain that film as a lesson in how to tell essentially the same story in a totally different way. “.”.
Upon the initial announcement of Karate Kid: Legends in September 2022, many were curious about how the game would handle the then-imminent Cobra Kai final season. Though two of its earlier release dates, June 2024 and December 2024, fell before the series’ February 2025 conclusion, it is now known that Legends was always going to take place three years after the Cobra Kai series finale. The strikes in 2023 caused delays in both projects. Therefore, in order to avoid confusing the Cobra Kai audience and to hopefully draw them in with the film’s satisfying series finale and overall success, Macchio became adamant that the film be postponed until after Cobra Kai was finished.
“When [Karate Kid: Legends] was first scheduled for release on December 13, 2024, I was yelling every day that this movie must be released after [Cobra Kai] is done,” Macchio says. “And marketing did the right thing [by delaying until May 2025] after they came to the realization that [the December ’24 release] would not benefit either.”. As Karate Kid: Legends approaches, I like to think that fans of Cobra Kai are eager for a new chapter. “.”.
Regarding Daniel LaRusso’s future, Macchio affirms that a number of Cobra Kai spinoffs are currently in development and that Netflix and the show’s creators, Josh Heald, Hayden Schlossberg, and Jon Hurwitz, will soon decide which direction or directions to pursue.
A couple of balls are in the air. Which one will land is unknown to me. “I’m hoping that they all do, or at least some of them do,” Macchio says. All of that could be boosted by Karate Kid: Legends’ success. Although it is different, it is the same. For you, there is a Miyagi-ism. “.”.
Below, in a recent interview with THR, Macchio also talks about his sense of duty to preserve the Karate Kid franchise as one of the final principals from the original 1983 movie.
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You were still shooting Cobra Kai when Karate Kid: Legends first came out. What, then, was the explanation of the movie’s timeline in connection with the show?
The Cobra Kai guys, [showrunners] Hayden Schlossberg, Josh Heald, and Jon Hurwitz, were not involved in the development of Karate Kid: Legends, so when I first heard about it, I thought, “Okay, where does this land?”. I therefore understood the idea, and it seemed to me that the only thing left to do was to identify the true, sincere connective tissue. Maintaining the Miyagi-verse or the legacy has always been important to me.
In terms of chronology, [Karate Kid: Legends] was always set roughly three years after Cobra Kai’s events. The children on Cobra Kai would have been in their third year of college [during Karate Kid: Legends] because the show began in 2018. Early on, that was decided, and when we see Daniel LaRusso three years later, it feels like a logical progression and evolution. My true attention was on that, and I planned to incorporate him into this brand-new, independent plot. In the vast cosmos, it resembles its own ecosystem.
He lands on a very good note at the end of Cobra Kai. He and Johnny Lawrence are the greatest versions of themselves in the future. In Karate Kid: Legends, we discover that his grounded wisdom and sensibilities are much more Miyagi. The purpose of Cobra Kai was to serve Johnny Lawrence’s redemption, and the more impulsive and in-Johnny’s-face he was, the better. I would say, “All right, but when do we land in Miyagi-land?” I assumed that LaRusso would end up there with all of his mentor’s wisdom, a very grounded mother, a good life, a good business, and a good wife. After that, we brought Daniel to that location.
Thus, three years later, he is in Miyagi’s yard when we pick him up, and to him, the house is a museum of his early years. He is reminded of the [Miyagi-Han family] connection after Jackie Chan’s Mr. Dot Han enters the dojo and he removes his gardening gloves. We started with the [flashback] section of Karate Kid Part II, which describes how [Miyagi-Do] karate originated in China. It was logical. Protecting LaRusso and the relationship that began in 1984—which is now the basis for the entire franchise—was the main priority at that time.
For a younger generation, you are what Pat Morita’s Mr. Dot Miyagi was to my generation, but for many of us, you will always be “The Karate Kid.”. After years of playing the role of the child, did it take you some time to adjust to being the sensei?
Yes, and that’s a really good query. Early on in Cobra Kai, it changed. I will never forget the scene in the first episode of season two where Robbie, played by Tanner Buchanan, was now the one sanding the deck, painting the fence, and waxing the car. Since we hadn’t yet changed into our wardrobe, I returned to my trailer to change after we camera-blocked the rehearsal of that brief montage. Then, I experienced this emotional outburst by myself. I won’t say that I was crying, but I began to feel hazy. As I prepared to perform the scene, I had a slight knot in my throat from recalling all of the magic that took place in Miyagi’s backyard in 1983. I learned from Pat Morita how to paint the fence and other items that have become part of popular culture. Now that I was on the other side of the mat, those years had passed. There was no longer John Avildsen. Both Jerry Weintraub, the producer, and Pat Morita had died. And in that moving moment, I simply felt the emotional burden of continuing this legacy. I therefore experienced that at that moment.
As a parent, I can attest to the experience of feeling the sensei versus the student. Like any father narrating a story from his youth, the young Cobra Kai cast would lean in and listen as I shared stories from yesterday. On Karate Kid: Legends, Ben Wang and I performed the same action. Since we wouldn’t have any of this today if it weren’t for the work done in the early 1980s, I take pride in sharing a bit of the past. I don’t like to get caught up in the nostalgia, but you do have to make it relevant and give back. Cobra Kai did that really well, and I think this movie has the same underlying themes but a new or different vibe.
It was a brilliant move to create a canonical bridge to Jackie Chan’s The Karate Kid by repurposing that Daniel-Miyagi flashback scene from The Karate Kid Part II. To tell the truth, I was adamantly opposed to seeing Jackie’s movie when it was released in 2010. Remaking The KarateKid, in my opinion, was blasphemous. At the time, did you become possessive of it?
Yes, I did, all right. You never consider yourself old enough for them to remake your belongings when they first start doing so. The Outsiders, which won best musical at the 2024 Tony Awards, is currently on Broadway. You don’t want to think about how long it’s been since they’ll do it for the next generation, but this is probably the third time in generations.
When I first heard about [2010’s The Karate Kid], I was therefore territorial. I had spent so much time in their shoes that I didn’t understand what they were aiming for. “How are you going to do a retread of that?” was my initial thought, but they produced a very successful and well-made film. That movie, in my opinion, is a lesson and an exercise in how to tell essentially the same story in a totally different way.
I said, “You have the footage,” as they introduced the idea of how they would tie these two [unrelated stories] together. It was all somewhat related. According to Miyagi, Cobra Kai imparted the Okinawan karate secret, which originated in China. As a result, it is consistent and, if you will, found in the Bible. Hollywood then intervenes to determine how to produce a film, and now we are here.
It also let you trade moves with Jackie Chan, so everything went pretty well.
I did indeed go from one legend to another. What more could you say? Working with someone like Jackie is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Despite not knowing him personally, I was clearly familiar with his work. Like a child in a candy store, he cleared the path for countless others. He simply enjoys being on set. He cares, and he enjoys making films. We both come from that place, and despite having two different points of view, we are both working toward the same goal. Thus, working with him was a pleasure.
When it comes to his physical, mental, and emotional well-being, Ben Wang excels. Youngsters aged 8 to 19 will support and cheer for him, but they also get a glimpse of the legacy throughout the film. I hope that’s the case here, as it’s been very clear with Cobra Kai. It’s a family-friendly film that tells a powerful tale of good triumphing over evil. And you get to enjoy a shared experience in the theater, where you hopefully give the stranger next to you a high five because you had a great time. Perhaps your uncle will show you the original Karate Kid on a DVD when you get home, and everyone will watch Mr. Dot Miyagi for the first time. When children approach me who are aware of Mr. Dot Miyagi and believe he is the coolest, it’s awesome.
My greatest surprise as an adult is that I don’t feel all that different from the person I was when I was 17 or 18. In comparison to the young man in the previously mentioned flashback, do you feel significantly different?
What a fantastic question. Macchio requests a few minutes to think. At the time of my first Cobra Kai scene with Billy Zabka, we had spent thirty-four years in the shoes of our characters. However, in the second episode, we encountered wisdom from various viewpoints on both sides of us as we stepped onto that mat inside the Cobra Kai dojo. There was an increased level of awareness when we conversed with one another through our characters. It was both new and familiar at the same time.
When I see young LaRusso in that first scene, Pat Morita and Hawaii come to mind. It smells like the day. I can still feel the humidity and the sensation of walking through the Miyagi family dojo. As a result, it transports me back in time. Though life has passed and wisdom has been acquired, the individual remains the same. In that particular scene, Daniel LaRusso was, ironically, a very sincere Daniel LaRusso. He wasn’t Johnny Lawrence’s impulsive person who would get angry every time he felt angry. When you look at Daniel LaRusso in Karate Kid: Legends, he is completely on the other side [à la Mr. Miyagi], whereas before he was the sincere student who wanted to learn. In imparting that knowledge to the next generation, he is candid and sincere. Seeing him in that first scene as a child and then as the more mature, wiser, and more experienced teacher is an intriguing viewpoint.
By filming the Miyagi house scenes in Karate Kid: Legends on Cobra Kai’s Miyagi house in Atlanta, I figured you were able to accomplish two goals at once, based on your opening scene with Jackie and the coda. However, did Legends rebuild the house in Montreal?
Yes, we had the wrap-up party the day after I finished Cobra Kai, and I was flying to Montreal the next morning. It was the strangest feeling ever when I got on a moving train. I was actually at someone else’s house, but I did contribute to the construction of the house in some way. It was intriguing to complete this shift by abandoning this family after seven years and sixty-five episodes, which is somewhat unprecedented in the streaming industry today. Then I was walking onto a big-screen film in which I had appeared but had not yet been cast. Therefore, that change was a little difficult, though nobody made it so. Now that I was changing the plot of a story three years later, I was only thinking about myself.
For your information, I was yelling every day that this movie must be released after the conclusion of the show when it was first scheduled for December 13, 2024. Additionally, marketing took the correct action after realizing that [the December ’24 release] would not help either. Now that Karate Kid: Legends is approaching, I like to think that fans of Cobra Kai are eager for more. Additionally, new fans who may or may not have seen the original movie or Cobra Kai would enjoy themselves greatly at the theater.
Additional plot points have been hinted at by the CobraKai showrunners. Do you have any idea what that is yet?
A few balls are in the air. You must maintain diplomatic safety, and I’m not sure which one will land. It would be my hope that one, some, or all of them do. All of that could be accelerated by Karate Kid: Legends’ popularity. It’s the same, but different. For you, Miyagi-ism is available.
