Well, it was the end of an era this past weekend when Cobra Kai, the lucratively exciting Karate Kid spin-off, came to an end after six seasons, drawing to a close the epic journey of Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka, but the story is far from over… as the tagline goes, Cobra Kai never dies.
The overall Karate Kid saga will continue this summer when Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan star together in Karate Kid: Legends – Macchio’s first time playing Daniel LaRusso, the Karate Kid, on the big screen since 1989’s Karate Kid III – but Macchio himself feels that Cobra Kai could still make a return.
At the end of the series, we saw Lawrence finally get the recognition he deserves and moving on to teach a whole new generation of karate students, so the dojo still exists in-universe.
WATCH: Full trailer drops for Cobra Kai’s final episodes coming this month
In a new interview with The New York Times, Macchio says that he thought he was done with the Karate Kid before, so another return in a few years isn’t that big a stretch: “Listen, I said it was the end for me when I got done with the last 1980s Karate Kid movie,” the actor says, “So I will say never say never. If Karate Kid: Legends does well, I would love to see a Cobra Kai movie in two or three years.”
However, with Zabka 59 years old and Macchio 63, there’s not an awful lot of time to waste if they both want to kick ass again… that said, don’t get me wrong, they both look amazing for their age; maybe there is something to this karate and fitness thing after all?
He continued: “As long as there’s a way to be truthful to the characters, to propel a story in a way that opens it up to generations, it’s something I’d be open to having a conversation about”.
We know that the Karate Kid is now a massive universe of stories and no longer just a couple of movies from the 80s and 90s and that up next – after Legends in May – is a planned Mr Myiagi series at Netflix and after that? Well, Cobra Kai left several doors open to telling stories of new and familiar faces and even dojos, so I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see Johnny and LaRusso reunited again at some point.
Thoughts? I know you have them…
WATCH: Karate Kid: Legends trailer gets us with an illegal kick move!
In Karate Kid: Legends, after a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang) is uprooted from his home in Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. Li struggles to let go of his past as he tries to fit in with his new classmates, and although he doesn’t want to fight, trouble seems to find him everywhere. 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 (Jackie Chan) enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown.
Directed by Jonathan Entwistle, the film stars Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley and Ming-Na Wen.
Karate Kid: Legends hits cinemas on 30th May 2025.
Ralph Macchio talks Cobra Kai, Karate Kid Legends and the future of the ‘Myiagi-verse’
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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