Karate Kid: Legends unites several branches of the Miyagi-verse, captained by franchise newcomer Ben Wang, while bringing original star Ralph Macchio back to the big screen as Daniel LaRusso, picking up after the events of Cobra Kai, and joining forces with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han, a mentor figure first introduced in Jaden Smith’s The Karate Kid (2010).

In the 15 years since the world of The Karate Kid has been in theaters, the Miyagi-verse has been fleshed out in Netflix’s Cobra Kai. That six-season series helped skyrocket both fan and filmmaker interest in the franchise, as progress on a new theatrical installment saw its most consistent momentum around the time that the critically-acclaimed Cobra Kai season 5 was airing.

ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley spoke with Chan, Macchio, and Wang about bringing multiple eras of The Karate Kid together in the form of Legends and how Cobra Kai influenced the film’s story.

Jackie Chan Rejected The Original Karate Kid Sequel Script Before Legends

“Suddenly, they sent me the script about Miyagi and Ralph…”

The Karate Kid (2010) was always intended to kick off a new wave of Karate Kid films, evident by its $359 million worldwide haul, but the team behind it could never find the right script.

“When a movie is a success, they always make sequel, sequel, sequel. When they gave me the sequel script, I didn’t like it,” Chan said of the scrapped Karate Kid sequel. “At the end, they wanted to be a Karate Kid girl. Underground fighting. I said, ‘No, no,’ but suddenly they sent me the script about Miyagi and Ralph. Wow, that’s something different.”

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Chan’s decision to reprise his role as Mr. Han boiled down to two elements: a refined backstory that involved Sensei Miyagi, and a chance to work with the original karate kid, Ralph Macchio.

“I remember when I was young, I watched Ralph’s movie,” Chan recalled watching the original 1984 movie. “At that time, I was depressed, but after [watching] The Karate Kid, I was back training again. At the same time, another movie comes out called Rocky. Those kinds of stories make people work hard, give a positive message, good energy, respect teachers, parents, the whole world. That’s why the Karate Kid movies last for a half-century.”

Ralph Macchio Picks Up Daniel LaRusso Where Cobra Kai Left Him

“He’s more grounded in a balanced, Miyagi sensibility…”

While Mr. Han’s backstory is explored on screen in Karate Kid: Legends, the past couple of decades of Daniel LaRusso’s life had already been explored in Cobra Kai. Knowing that Legends was on the horizon, Macchio emphasized that he wanted to end that show as “the best version” of the iconic martial artist.

“It was important that we landed Daniel LaRusso in a way at the end of Cobra Kai that he is the best version of himself with his once foe now very good friend, Johnny Lawrence,” Macchio said. “It was important that LaRusso lands in a way that when we find him in this film, he’s more grounded in a balanced Miyagi sensibility, more the wisdom and the confidence he has having gone through some of the craziness and the soap opera of the Cobra Kai series. It informs how he moves forward.”

All of these lores feed into Wang’s character’s trajectory. Karate Kid: Legends introduces audiences to Li Fong, a master of kung fu that finds himself revisiting his dormant skillset to compete in an epic New York City tournament.

Just as Li learns from Mr. Han and Daniel on screen, Wang was taking away lessons from Chan and Macchio behind the scenes.

“They’re such genuine, wonderful people in spite of how much success they’ve had. They’re legends of this franchise. They’re legends of Hollywood. They’ve collectively, between them, probably a hundred years in the industry,” Wang said. “They both come to set every single day completely dedicated to the work, completely full of energy. In Jackie’s case, he has such a raw love for filmmaking and just excitement every single day. It’s something that I hopefully aspire to once I’ve been in this industry for a hundred years.”

Source: ScreenRant Plus