Karate Kid fans of all generations can now rejoice together. The long-running series and their respective continuities will come together for the upcoming film, Karate Kid: Generations, which connects the original series – led by Ralph Macchio and the late Pat Morita – and the 2010 reboot starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. Now, thanks to a first via Entertainment Weekly, we have an idea of what it will look like when characters from both stories interact on screen. Karate Kid: Legends follows the young Li (protege of Chan’s Mr. Han) as he enters a martial arts competition. However, after realizing that his teaching alone won’t be enough for Li to win the tournament, Mr. Han reaches out to Mr. Miyagi’s old student, Daniel LaRusso, for help.
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The History of the Karate Kid’s Continuity
The original Karate Kid series kicked off in 1984, and was such a massive hit that it led to several more sequels: 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II, 1989’s The Karate Kid Part III, and 1994’s The Next Karate Kid, along with a largely forgotten 1989 animated series.
The franchise remained dormant until it was rebooted in 2010, featuring an updated plot, setting, and cast of characters. This film, also titled The Karate Kid, featured Jaden Smith playing a young boy named Dre Parker who moves to China with his mother, only to endure constant bullying from his classmates. However, Dre soon learns the art of kung fu from Mr. Han, a humble maintenance man who also happens to be a master martial artist.
[RELATED: Ralph Macchio Celebrates The Karate Kid’s 40th Anniversary, Shares Cobra Kai Update]
The reboot performed fairly well critically and financially, and there were even initial plans to release a sequel. However, those plans never came to fruition, and the series instead went back to its roots with the Netflix series, Cobra Kai, which reunited original stars Macchio and Johnny Lawrence and saw them return to their classic characters, their old rivalry having survived well into adulthood.
Now that it’s established that both the original series and the 2010 reboot take place in the same continuity, it will be interesting to see how they connect. Hopefully, Karate Kid: Legends bridges the two universes in a meaningful way and does more than just fan service.
An All-New Karate Kid
Following in the footsteps of Macchio, Smith, and Hilary Swank (who played Julie Pearce in the mostly ignored The Next Karate Kid) is Ben Wang as Li Fong. Wang has already made quite a splash in the Disney+ series, American Born Chinese, but it was his multiple talents that really caught the eye of Legends director, Jonathan Entwistle, who told EW that “It was very important that we could have somebody who could speak Mandarin, and who could do martial arts, and we also wanted someone who was an amazing actor. Those three things are really, really difficult to find.”
For Wang, playing the lead character in a beloved franchise is a dream come true, telling the outlet: “I was the target audience when that movie [2010’s The Karate Kid] came out. I was exactly the age of the character. That whole movie takes place in Beijing, and I’d just come back from living for a year in Beijing. Also, I grew up watching Jackie Chan movies. He is the first memory I have of knowing what an actor is. It was all of my favorite things in one place.”
Karate Kid: Legends will release May 30, 2025.
