Karate Kid: Legends was one of this year’s most anticipated blockbusters, particularly following the conclusion of Cobra Kai‘s sixth season. However, many fans were left disappointed when the movie didn’t acknowledge any of the details from the Netflix show. In fact, none of the original characters even appeared in the film.

Cobra Kai ended with Johnny ultimately defeating Wolf by going against his own “strike first” mantra, allowing him to reclaim his old Cobra Kai dojo. This conclusion gave everybody the happy endings they deserved, and set a clear foundation for the beloved characters to return in the recent movie. But Karate Kid: Legends steered clear of anything Cobra Kai-specific.

Karate Kid: Legends Could Not Use Anything From Cobra Kai Due To Rights Issues

Ultimately, the reason why none of the original Cobra Kai characters appeared in Karate Kid: Legends is that the filmmakers simply didn’t have the rights to use them. The Karate Kid movies are the property of Columbia Pictures, whereas the rights to Cobra Kai are owned solely by Netflix.

The problem is slightly more complicated than this, but the general principle is that anything originally created by Cobra Kai (as in, that which does not appear in the original Karate Kid movies) can only be used by Netflix. Since Netflix was not involved in the making of Legends, this excluded certain characters from appearing in the story.

Director Jonathan Entwistle has been very open about the legal restrictions that were involved in the making of Karate Kid: Legends. He explained, “We could always use Daniel and Miyagi, but any elements that are Cobra Kai-specific are not a Columbia Pictures property.“

To understand exactly why these restrictions are in place, it’s helpful to look back at the early days of Cobra Kai, when it was originally a YouTube Red property. The streaming rights were then claimed by Netflix — crucially, not Sony Pictures, which produces the show. It’s slightly murky territory, but Netflix ultimately maintains creative control.

Importantly, this only applies to the original characters from Cobra Kai, which is exactly why figures like Daniel and Johnny were allowed to appear in the recent movie. William Zabka has a brief cameo at the end of Karate Kid: Legends, which essentially confirms that the movie and Cobra Kai are still connected despite the legal difficulties.

Although Legends doesn’t follow up on Cobra Kai that well, the movie still does a good job of continuing the franchise in a way that’s faithful to the original movies without bypᴀssing any of the legal restrictions that come with the Netflix deal. It sets an important precedent that the Karate Kid franchise can continue without undermining Cobra Kai.

Karate Kid’s Rights Issues Complicate The Franchise’s Future

That being said, the fact that any future Karate Kid movies will essentially have to be written around Cobra Kai creates some needless complexities that could spell trouble for the franchise. It’s always frustrating when specific characters and storylines within a franchise are owned by different studios, as we’ve recently seen with ongoing projects like the MCU.

There are several options for Karate Kid going into the future. Firstly, the franchise could continue to ignore Cobra Kai altogether and just use the characters that Columbia Pictures already has ownership of. This is the most sensible option, but it would also be very frustrating for dedicated fans who’ve stuck with the show for six seasons.

Alternatively, the franchise could attempt to balance these two properties by having dedicated Karate Kid sequels and Cobra Kai sequels that reference each other but never explicitly cross paths. This would maintain the interconnectivity of the franchise without actually violating any of the legal restrictions on character usage.

Unfortunately, even this compromise comes with its own obstacles. It’s possible that since Karate Kid: Legends is a newer sequel that was created after the agreement with Netflix, Cobra Kai may not even have the rights to reference it, and thus wouldn’t even be able to acknowledge anything going on outside of its own borders.

The Netflix show was given permission to use characters and stories from the original Karate Kid movies, but it’s unclear whether this agreement extends to future sequels like Legends. The entire situation is ambiguous, and this makes it very difficult to imagine what the future of the Karate Kid franchise could plausibly look like.

The only remaining option to bridge these two properties is a fresh agreement between Netflix, Columbia, and Sony, through which both series could be given more creative freedom. This would be a mutually beneficial contract that opens the door for Cobra Kai and Karate Kid to stay alive without cannibalizing each other’s success, not unlike Sony’s own deal with Marvel Studios over the use of Spider-Man.

This seems like the most logical step forward for the franchise, and with Cobra Kai officially over, Netflix would hopefully be more open to selling the franchise rights over to Columbia. Cobra Kai has been a hugely successful show throughout its years on Netflix, and it would be a mᴀssive shame if the Karate Kid movies had to pretend it had never happened.