Here’s How Karate Kid: Legends Connects to Cobra Kai and the Previous Action-Packed Films (Exclusive)

Ralph Macchio, Jackie Chan and Ben Wang star in ‘Karate Kid: Legends,’ out May 30

Balance is key in Karate Kid: Legends.

Ralph Macchio, the OG Karate Kid, is teaming up with martial arts legend Jackie Chan, who starred in 2010’s The Karate Kid, to bring new moves and life lessons to the big screen.

In an exclusive new look at the movie, Macchio, 63, and Chan, 70, along with newcomer Ben Wang, who will play Li Fong in the film, explain how Karate Kid: Legends connects with Netflix’s Cobra Kai series and the broader Karate Kid saga, plus their excitement for the “next chapter” of the franchise.

The latest teaser shows Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso and Chan’s Mr. Han combining their martial arts skills — balancing karate with kung fu — to train their new prodigy Li Fong as he enters the ultimate karate competition.

“Seeing how important Li Fong is to Mr. Han and Daniel’s relationship to Miyagi — there’s a parallel there,” Macchio says in the teaser, reflecting on LaRusso’s late mentor, played by Pat Morita, who died in 2005.

“There’s the kung fu he learned in Beijing from Mr. Han, but he’s entering a karate tournament, which is a different type of martial arts. And now, combining those worlds in an authentic way, the kung fu and karate, it’s something fresh.”

LaRusso has dealt with combining different fighting styles before, as shown in the final season of Cobra Kai.

The All-Valley Karate Tournament champion and his former competitor Johnny Lawrence (played by William Zabka) merge Miyagi’s defensive tactics with Cobra Kai’s offensive moves to lead their students — and, ultimately, Johnny Lawrence himself — to victory in the global karate championship, the Sekai Taikai.

Director Jonathan Entwistle tells PEOPLE there is an important balance between the films and the television series. “They are both part of the Karate Kid universe — without Karate Kid, there would be no Cobra Kai,” Entwistle says.

“Our film is set after the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai and takes the Karate Kid mythology in a fresh direction with a new set of characters,” he explains.

Chan’s integration into the franchise came in 2010, when he starred alongside Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid.

The Harald Zwart-directed film followed a similar storyline to the original three Karate Kid movies, in that a young martial arts prodigy moves to a new home and catches the attention of a local bully.

Smith played 12-year-old Dre Parker, who had just moved from Detroit to Beijing with his widowed mother Sherry (Taraji P. Henson) and becomes the target of neighborhood bully Cheng. Thanks to mentorship from kung fu master Mr. Han, Dre wins a tournament against his rival.

Wang, who is seen going toe to toe with both Macchio and Chan’s characters in the teaser, says entering the franchise is “something that I’ve always wanted,” adding that the extensive training “was hard but it’s basically living the dream.”

Known for his recent role as Jin Wang in Disney+ series American Born Chinese, Wang says an interesting aspect of the movie is watching storytelling come through in fight scenes. “They’ve put a lot of that in this movie along with some really incredible action choreography,” Wang says.

Entwistle says he wanted Wang’s character to “feel like a young Jackie Chan” — which is evident in a few humorous fight scenes shown between the veteran fighter and Wang in the teaser.

As for how the OG Karate Kid feels about melding the stories of LaRusso and Mr. Han with a new karate hero, Macchio says, “It really felt like Ben, Jackie and I were experiencing something together.”