Even though Karate Kid: Legends has been confirmed to be a separate story from Cobra Kai, there’s a character other than Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso who needs to make the jump from the ending of Cobra Kai‘s final season and into the upcoming legacy sequel with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han. If they don’t make an appearance, it won’t exactly be a plot hole, but it would be very strange given the nature of their connection to Macchio’s character.
Karate Kid: Legends‘ story will be set three years after the events of Cobra Kai‘s big finale. Although the movie is part of the same timeline as all the other Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai, the project marks the start of a new era for the franchise. As such, most of the Cobra Kai ensemble will be absent from Legends. I’m sure the movie’s new characters will blend very well with existing figures like Daniel and Mr. Han, but Legends must recall one original Cobra Kai character to appear during the story.
Amanda LaRusso Cannot Possibly Be Left Out Of Karate Kid: Legends
Daniel’s wife being absent from the upcoming Karate Kid sequel would be weirdly distracting
Cobra Kai fleshed out Daniel LaRusso’s family tree quite significantly. As well as establishing that Daniel had fathered two children in the period between the end of 1989’s The Karate Kid Part III and the 2018 pilot of Cobra Kai, the sequel show also revealed he had met and married the mother of his eventual offspring – Courtney Henggeler’s Amanda LaRusso. While Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) and Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro) will likely be off at college or otherwise leading their own lives, Amanda would still be around in Karate Kid: Legends.
Having Daniel but no Amanda would feel like a very forced and unnecessary way to try and reinforce the idea that Karate Kid: Legends isn’t a direct continuation of Cobra Kai.
Granted, the upcoming movie isn’t all set in California. Most of the story will unfold in China, and New York. As such, Amanda would need to stay behind and run their car dealership while Daniel is out of town. However, the Legends trailer has already revealed that at least some of the movie takes place in California, so having Daniel but no Amanda would feel like a very forced and unnecessary way to try and reinforce the idea that Karate Kid: Legends isn’t a direct continuation of Cobra Kai. Even a brief Amanda cameo would be better than omitting her.
Karate Kid: Legends Doesn’t Need Too Many Cobra Kai Connections
Cobra Kai’s story is over, and that’s fine
Cobra Kai has now told a complete story, with the original intention of redeeming William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence finally achieved after his victory over Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) in the Sekai Taikai. With the majority of the other characters moving on to other endeavors, such as college, it wouldn’t make sense for Karate Kid: Legends to serve as a proper sequel to Cobra Kai, even though it does take place after the show’s final episode.
That being said, the unexpected resurgence of the Karate Kid franchise brought about by Cobra Kai proves there is still life in the beloved martial arts series. For it to continue thriving, Legends needs to do what Cobra Kai did and push the saga onward while respecting its past. If Karate Kid: Legends is just an endless string of nods to Cobra Kai, there would be no point in making it at all.
