Karate Kid: Legends has no shortage of fighters. The film is captained by Ben Wang’s Li Fong, a kung fu prodigy who fuses his prior martial arts knowledge with karate, as taught by Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han and Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso. Outside of martial arts, Joshua Jackson’s Victor has a history in boxing.

One of the few characters in Karate Kid: Legends that remains on the sidelines is Sadie Stanley’s Mia. Being the daughter of Victor, Mia steers clear of violence, as she has witnessed her father take some rough strikes inside the squared circle. That said, if Cobra Kai taught audiences anything, it’s only a matter of time before any Miyagi-verse character dons a gi.

ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley spoke with Stanley about developing Mia’s dynamic with Victor, how she approaches Li competing in the Battle of the Five Boroughs tournament, and which Karate Kid legacy character she wants to train her in a potential sequel.

Mia’s Protective Tendencies Informs Her Relationship With Li Fong

“She just has her dad, it’s just them two against the world…”

The emotional weight of Karate Kid: Legends falls on the parent-child dynamics in the film. Those come in the pairs of Ben Wang and Ming-Na Wen as well as Sadie Stanley and Joshua Jackson.

“That process was very natural. We got lunch when we first arrived and hung out for a little bit and just got to know each other,” Stanley said of working with Jackson, who plays her character’s father. “He has a daughter of his own, Juno, who’s adorable, and he is such a dad. He talks about her constantly, gushes about her, shows pictures, talks about what she’s into these days and what she’s like. He very clearly just has such dad energy.”

That dad energy carried into Jackson’s performance as Victor, as he is Mia’s lone parent.

“Of course, Mia’s a little protective of her father. She lost her mom when she was young, and that really forces you to grow up a lot when you’re that age. She just has her dad. It’s just them two against the world working in this pizza shop trying to make ends meet,” Stanely noted. “I think that definitely informs her relationships with other people.”

Mia’s protective tendencies of her father, who has taken some rough hits inside the boxing ring, informs her newfound relationship with Ben Wang’s Li Fong.

“I think when she meets Li, she really holds up a mirror to him and challenges him to be more honest with himself and with others. She really sees his potential before he fully sees it in himself,” Stanley continued. “I think that’s really special when you can do that for somebody. Just in general, Mia is a person who sees through the noise, and she’s very emotionally intuitive, a grounding force.”

Sadie Stanley Wants Hilary Swank In Karate Kid: Legends 2

“Please bring her back. I’m obsessed with her!”

It might not be long until Mia sees the potential in herself as well. As previously noted, most Miyagi-verse characters eventually practice karate at some point, and if a sequel script calls for Mia to get physical, she’s ready to sign on.

“Oh my God, absolutely. I think that would be the dream for sure,” Stanley exclaimed. “I was so jealous when we were filming. Watching Ben, he worked so hard and really got put through the ringer. He did such an amazing job. I love when jobs have a sort of physical aspect to them. That’s always something that excites me about a script. In the sequel, maybe Mia needs to get in the ring for sure.”

\n”‘};

window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“instagram”] = “null”;

If Li has both Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso, it’s only appropriate that Mia would have her own teacher. When asked if she’d be up for Hilary Swank to return as Julie Pierce to train Mia, Stanley responded ecstatically.

“Absolutely. Great question. Please bring her back,” Stanley said. “She’s fantastic. I’m obsessed with her. That would be so cool. We can have all four of them train Mia.”

Source: ScreenRant Plus