Karate Kid: Legends starts a new chapter in The Karate Kid movie saga, but how is the next Karate Kid film connected to Cobra Kai? Directed by Jonathan Entwistle and written by Rob Lieber, Karate Kid: Legends introduces a new young martial arts student, Li Fong (Ben Wang). Li is tutored by Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who returns as the sensei from 2010’s The Karate Kid. Karate Kid: Legends’ big draw is the return of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), who joins Mr. Han in training Li.
Karate Kid: Legends is the sixth Karate Kid movie and the first new film since Cobra Kai became a global sensation on Netflix. About to wrap up its sixth and final season in February 2025, Cobra Kai significantly expanded The Karate Kid universe, drawing inspiration from the 1980s movies starring Ralph Macchio’s Daniel-san and Noriyuki “Pat” Morita’s Mr. Miyagi while introducing a whole new cast of young Cobra Kai and Karate Kid heroes. Karate Kid: Legends will directly connect with Cobra Kai, merging the offshoot Karate Kid films led by Jackie Chan with the greater ‘Miyagiverse.’
Karate Kid: Legends Does Exist In The Same Universe As Cobra Kai
Karate Kid: Legends will directly connect with Cobra Kai by teaming up Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han. In effect, Karate Kid: Legends will combine the entire Karate Kid franchise, which comprises the first four Karate Kid movies that centered on Mr. Miyagi, 2010’s The Karate Kid movie starring Jackie Chan, and the six seasons of Cobra Kai into one shared universe. The connections even go deeper as Karate Kid: Legends will link the history of Mr. Han’s kung fu with the established legacy of Mr. Miyagi’s Miyagi-Do karate, and confirm that Mr. Han and Mr. Miyagi once knew each other.
Before Karate Kid: Legends, 2010’s The Karate Kid reboot starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith was considered a separate timeline. This was due to rights issues, although Will Smith is listed as a producer of Cobra Kai despite never appearing in Netflix’s series because he was a producer of 2010’s The Karate Kid. However, Karate Kid: Legends unifies the entire franchise so that every movie and Cobra Kai are now part of the overall Karate Kid timeline. Karate Kid: Legends’ tagline, “Two branches, one tree” can also symbolize how all Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai are part of the same tree.
Karate Kid: Legends Takes Place After Cobra Kai Season 6
Karate Kid: Legends takes place an undetermined amount of time after Cobra Kai season 6. Cobra Kai’s timeline is years behind the real world’s with Cobra Kai season 6, part 2’s Sekai Taikai tournament happening in April 2020. If Karate Kid: Legends is set in the present day of 2024 or 2025, then years will have passed for Daniel since Cobra Kai ended, and his two children, Samantha (Mary Mouser) and Anthony (Griffin Santopietro) are out of college. The state of the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do dojos will be revealed when Cobra Kai season 6 ends.
A present day setting would also mean roughly 15 years will have passed since 2010’s The Karate Kid, when Mr. Han trained Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) in Beijing. Since that time, Mr. Han has moved to the United States as Karate Kid: Legends takes place in New York City. Karate Kid: Legends’ trailer shows Mr. Han traveling to Southern California to find Daniel LaRusso at Mr. Miyagi’s home in the San Fernando Valley. Judging from the glimpses of Miyagi’s house, which was also the Miyagi-Do dojo in Cobra Kai, it may have been years since students trained there after Cobra Kai’s ending.
Which Cobra Kai Characters Return In Karate Kid: Legends
Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso is the only confirmed Cobra Kai character returning in Karate Kid: Legends. While it’s possible there could be mentions of other Cobra Kai characters like Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), Daniel’s wife, Amanda (Courtney Henggeler), or the LaRusso children, only Daniel-san is known to appear in Karate Kid: Legends. Daniel is essential as the main character for the first three Karate Kid movies (and as one of Cobra Kai’s leads) to unify his side of the Karate Kid franchise with Mr. Han’s films.
While Mr. Miyagi won’t appear in person, Daniel-san’s beloved sensei is definitely mentioned and part of Karate Kid: Legends in spirit. Mr. Miyagi’s portrait and one of his Miyagi-Do headbands are part of Karate Kid: Legends. At this point in The Karate Kid timeline, Daniel-san will have worked through his fears about Mr. Miyagi in Cobra Kai season 6. While Cobra Kai fans will miss their many favorite characters, Karate Kid: Legends is a new and different side of the franchise, and Daniel is link to the overall Karate Kid saga.
Karate Kid: Legends Continues Making Karate Kid’s Movie Universe Bigger
1984’s The Karate Kid was set in the San Fernando Valley, but the franchise opened up starting with The Karate Kid Part II, which took Daniel-san to Mr. Miyagi’s home in Okinawa. Miyagi traveled to Boston to meet Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank) in 1994’s The Next Karate Kid, while The Karate Kid (2010) took the franchise to Beijing, China. Cobra Kai has also broken out of its own San Fernando Valley trappings to travel to Mexico, Vietnam for John Kreese’s (Martin Kove) origin flashbacks, South Korea, and Barcelona, Spain for the Sekai Taikai.
Karate Kid: Legends is poised to grow The Karate Kid saga by connecting to the past movies and Cobra Kai so that it’s all one rich, shared karate universe.
Karate Kid: Legends’ New York City setting is an exciting new playground for the saga’s brand of teen karate, and Li Fong is the first young Asian hero to be the lead of a Karate Kid movie. Karate Kid: Legends will also tie Mr. Han’s kung fu with Miyagi-Do, revealing that Mr. Miyagi’s ancestor learned derived karate from the kung fu of Mr. Han’s ancestor, as Mr. Miyagi explained to Daniel-san in The Karate Kid Part II. Karate Kid: Legends is poised to grow The Karate Kid saga by connecting to the past movies and Cobra Kai so that it’s all one rich, shared karate universe.
