KARATE KID: LEGENDS Director Says There Were "Really Detailed Conversations" with the COBRA KAI Team
The first trailer for Karate Kid: Legends recently dropped, and it looks like a great new chapter in the Karate Kid franchise.
Director Jonathan Entwistle recently talked about the film with Entertainment Weekly and said the Cobra Kai team were involved to help connect the movie to the series.
The movie that brings together Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan uniting as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han. Together they will teach Ben Wang’s Li Fong some martial arts skills and life lessons.
Entwistle said: "I was excited about the idea that the films and the series can all be part of one family. I've had some really detailed conversations with the Cobra Kai team about just cool stuff that we can do in the movie and can make this whole thing feel holistic."
The director continued: "And obviously, Ralph is really, really close to it after all those years on Cobra Kai, and they've been involved in little steps along the way.
“Everything we talked about made it into the movie in some way or other, either through Ralph or through the conversations. We’re really excited that we've added another piece to the overall universe."
Karate Kid: Legends takes place three years after the events of Cobra Kai and sees Daniel join forces with Mr. Han.
Macchio previously talked about the film saying: "It was not a quick decision, because it was about protecting the Daniel LaRusso character, and finding where he would be at that point, and then protecting the whole legacy in the Miyagi-verse.
“Once we were able to line that up, for the Cobra Kai story to lead into the new film – even though they’re separate ecosystems – it all made sense for me. Then, working with Jackie was just super exciting. I started this on the big screen. How cool is it to get it back to the big screen?”
In the film, Li Fong is a Beijing-based teenager who moves to New York City with his mother (Ming-Na Wen). “The teen's transition to the Big Apple is, in a word, sour: Li has trouble fitting in at his new school, and he keeps getting dragged into fights he would very much like to avoid.
"When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition — but his skills alone aren’t enough. Li’s kung fu teacher Mr. Han (Chan) enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown."
Karate Kid: Legends hits theaters on May 30, 2025.