Karate Kid: Legends is the latest entry in the beloved martial arts franchise, which began over 40 years ago. Featuring characters across multiple Karate Kid generations, the movie focuses on a kung-fu prodigy named Li Fong who gets wrapped up in the martial arts world in his new home of New York City. He is trained by Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who first appeared in the 2010 version of The Karate Kid, and also interacts with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). The latest martial arts prodigy is played by Ben Wang, whose performance in Legends has been thoroughly praised.

Karate Kid: Legends opened to $20.3 million this past weekend. While not as high of a total as one may have hoped, it is a debut that could not have happened without the TV series Cobra Kai. This Netflix series saw Daniel and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) become rivals once again, continuing these characters’ stories, and more importantly, reinvigorating interest in the martial arts franchise. While the universe expansion is exciting, Karate Kid: Legends just revealed something that makes the future challenging.

Karate Kid: Legends Couldn’t Use Characters Who Originated From Cobra Kai

The Issue Came Down To Property Rights

Though it returns Daniel LaRusso to the screen, Karate Kid: Legends does not include any characters who were introduced in Cobra Kai. Recently, Legends director Jonathan Entwistle revealed that this was less of a creative choice, and more of a legal one. That is, Netflix owns the creative rights to the characters from Cobra Kai, whereas Columbia Pictures owns the characters from the Karate Kid movies. This meant that Entwistle could use Daniel or anyone else for the film-only universe, but he was forbidden to include any Netflix-created characters.

Entwistle has been clear in the past that Karate Kid: Legends is not a Cobra Kai film. It is technically a sequential sequel in that Li Fong’s story occurs chronologically after the events of Cobra Kai season 6, but that is the extent of their connection. The difference is even more cemented, however, by the fact that Entwistle could not legally use any of the Netflix show’s characters.

Future Karate Kid Movies Will Continue Running Into This Cobra Kai Problem

This Will Keep Happening Unless Netflix Makes Another Arrangement

Unfortunately, this creative property issue will remain true for any future Karate Kid movies. There are only two ways in which a future film could include Cobra Kai characters. One is if Netflix produced it themselves, and the second is if they struck some sort of deal with Columbia to make a crossover film. Absent one of these scenarios happening, the Karate Kid film universe has to be completely separate from that of Cobra Kai.

New Karate Kid Movies Not Connecting To Cobra Kai Makes The Franchise’s Future A Tough Sell

It Poses Issues With Canonization

This is pretty devastating news for the franchise’s future, at least on the film side of things. Cobra Kai has better reviews than Karate Kid: Legends, which has gotten a mixed response from critics. As such, a new Karate Kid film would probably be helped by including some of the Netflix show’s characters that audiences have grown to know and love over the course of six seasons. Without this crossover opportunity, the future looks bleak. The plots of future Karate Kid movies could severely suffer as a result, even if they continue to follow Li Fong.

The franchise could still include Johnny Lawrence and craft some kind of tale between him and Daniel. However, if they are not able to even reference the show or talk about their kids, it could create an alarming franchise disconnect that would feel pretty unnatural. This would be a huge turn-off for those familiar with the Netflix series, who are aware of the lives that Johnny and Daniel have led. Cobra Kai and Karate Kid: Legends are both allegedly canon, but without a deal between Netflix and Columbia, they may as well exist in separate worlds.