Cobra Kai did a lot for Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso, but Karate Kid: Legends can drive his character forward in a way that the Netflix legacy sequel show failed to do. As one of the most prominent figures in the Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai, Daniel’s journey has lasted decades. Having only been omitted from 1994’s The Next Karate Kid, Macchio has been given plenty of chances to make sure audiences know what Daniel is all about. Sadly, Cobra Kai never allowed him to mirror one of his earliest franchise dynamics.

Cobra Kai‘s big finale ended a six-season arc for several characters, but Daniel’s storyline goes all the way back to 1984’s The Karate Kid. When Karate Kid: Legends is released, we’ll finally get to see what’s next for Daniel LaRusso in the years that follow Cobra Kai‘s Sekai Taikai. Although the upcoming and unexpected team-up with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han will certainly be a highlight of Karate Kid: Legends, there’s actually another aspect of the movie that I think will be far more rewarding.

Daniel LaRusso Will Finally Have One True Apprentice In Karate Kid: Legends

Sensei LaRusso will take Li Fong under his wing just like Mr. Miyagi did with Daniel

Daniel had several students throughout Cobra Kai. He taught Miyagi-do to his daughter, Samantha “Sam” LaRusso (Mary Mouser), Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), and pretty much all the other younger characters. Although it was great to see the various dynamics unfolding and how they took to Daniel’s inherited style of karate, the sheer volume of characters in Cobra Kai meant Macchio’s character never had a true one-on-one sensei/student relationship like he did with the late Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). Thankfully, Karate Kid: Legends will change all that.

I still feel robbed of a moment where it would’ve dawned on me that Macchio’s character had found his new “Daniel.” In other words, the one student he could focus on. While it never happened in Cobra Kai, the debut of Ben Wang’s Li Fong in Karate Kid: Legends opens the door for such a dynamic to develop between the franchise’s new karate student and Daniel LaRusso. It remains to be seen just how much Mr. Han will be involved in this setup, but it will still be far closer to anything Daniel had in Cobra Kai.

Cobra Kai Couldn’t Decide Who Was Going To Be The New Karate Kid

Daniel had too many students to single out the most important one

The Next Karate Kid had already tried to softly reboot the franchise back in 1994 by replacing Macchio’s character with Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce. Even then, those in charge knew how essential a solid sensei/student relationship was. Sure, the movie may have flopped, but it had roughly the right idea. Cobra Kai kept toying with the idea of reestablishing that framework when the show revived the saga in 2018, but it never fully embraced the time-honored framework.

Then again, choosing a new “Karate Kid” to replace Daniel LaRusso was never really the point of Cobra Kai. To do so would have confirmed who the show’s main character was, and Cobra Kai had always been an ensemble cast that focused pretty equally on the arcs of new and old figures within the franchise. I still believe the redemption of William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence was the primary purpose of Cobra Kai, so it makes sense that Karate Kid: Legends is the first modern project within the saga to bring back a one-on-one sensei/student dynamic.