Karate Kid: Legends was the long-awaited return to theaters for the 40-year-old franchise, but unfortunately, its return to the silver screen was met with a fairly mixed response, which, while not terrible, has left the franchise in a very strange position. While the original movie will always remain a ’80s classic, most audiences felt comfortable writing the larger franchise off as not coming even close to the first film, at least until the release of Cobra Kai, the sequel TV show that reignited the interest in The Karate Kid series.

While Cobra Kai wasn’t exactly what most would call prestige television, it was an excellent show that introduced a new audience to the franchise, bringing the series to the forefront of the cultural conversation for the first time since the original. Legends wasn’t a direct sequel to the Karate Kid spinoff series, but it was clearly attempting to build off the show’s success. Unfortunately, the new installment didn’t manage to live up to the high bar that had already been set.

Cobra Kai Was Great Because Of How It Handled The Characters

Especially The Returning Ones

The original pitch for Cobra Kai was very simple, telling the story of Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) 30 years after the events of the first Karate Kid movie. Neither actor had a mᴀssive career since their roles in that film, so initially, the project seemed like just another cash-grabbing legacy sequel that would fall by the wayside after a mediocre reception. However, Cobra Kai managed to elevate the tenuous premise, concentrating on a story that not only made sense, but felt like a natural continuation of the original characters.

One aspect that is easy to forget about the show, especially during the later seasons, is that Johnny was always really the main character, which the Cobra Kai finale thankfully remembered, giving him his time to shine at the very end. Seeing his development over the course of the show was one of the big reasons that viewers kept coming back, and he was transformed from the simple, ’80s bully archetype to a fully three-dimensional character. Daniel was similarly given a lot of development, though, as the original protagonist, he was always going to be an easier sell.

However, it is also important to note that the Netflix spinoff didn’t just bring back these familiar faces, but the show actually introduced a lot of brand-new characters to the Karate Kid franchise, who all became interesting additions throughout their time on the show. Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) was the first new character really introduced and quickly became one of the most interesting, alongside Robby (Tanner Buchanan), Tory (Peyton List), and Samantha (Mary Mouser). Even characters like Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) or Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo), who didn’t get quite as much spotlight, had plenty of great character moments.

Karate Kid: Legends Doesn’t Spend Enough Time With Mr. Han Or Daniel LaRusso

Their Roles Are Smaller Than Expected

With that in mind, one of the reasons that Legends didn’t feel as impactful as Cobra Kai is that most of the characters didn’t feel like they got enough time to shine, especially Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) and Daniel. The entire point of the film was to finally unite two very different halves of the franchise, but for the faces of both sides to feel underserved made the whole movie fall a little bit flat. They weren’t bad, but these characters, especially Daniel, felt like Legends just threw them in for the sake of the fan service.

Thankfully, Legends wasn’t an awful film, as Mr. Han and Daniel’s uninteresting roles were somewhat saved by the actual main characters, who were great. The main members of Legends‘ cast, Ben Wang as Li Fong and Sadie Stanley as Mia Lipani, were both excellent, and absolutely carried the movie, even as other characters and plotlines fell to the sideline. Unfortunately, the filmmakers couldn’t find a way to give Mr. Han or Daniel, who were both great in their previous roles in the franchise, enough to do to make their characters feel like worthwhile additions.

Karate Kid: Legends Ignoring Cobra Kai Almost Entirely Didn’t Help Either

Franchise Rights Got In The Way

Even though Legends was always pitched as separate from Cobra Kai, despite occurring in the same universe, it was always going to be compared to the show. The fact that there were almost zero references to the Netflix series felt very odd, considering how popular it was. Most audiences were expecting at least some connection, beyond just the simple fact that Daniel appeared in both projects, and while Legends‘ ending cameo was something of a reference, it didn’t feel like much.

However, it has since been revealed that, even if the filmmakers wanted to include more Cobra Kai references, they weren’t able to, due to some odd rights issues with the Karate Kid franchise. Columbia Pictures, who released Legends, had the rights to the original Karate Kid characters, like Daniel and Johnny. However, due to Netflix’s streaming rights, the movie couldn’t include any original Cobra Kai characters, including Miguel and Robbie. A deal wasn’t made beforehand, so Legends had no choice but to mostly ignore Cobra Kai. Even director Jonathan Entwistle elaborated that he was only allowed to use characters from the original movies, saying the following:

We could use anything that’s in the movies. We could have used and touched on any concept that was in the original movies. So we could always use Daniel and Miyagi, but any elements that are Cobra Kai-specific are not a Columbia Pictures property.

The Next Karate Kid Movie Needs To Be More Like Cobra Kai

And Less Like Karate Kid: Legends