Deviating from Cobra Kai’s ensemble cast and anti-hero protagonists, Entwistle’s movie puts Li Fong (Ben Wang) at the center, proposing him as the new official Karate Kid and the main hero going forward. The young character’s similarities to Daniel LaRusso are strong, as he has just moved to a new city with his mother, and has been dealing with some bullies. Though it makes sense that the sequel adopts a story that’s more similar to the original’s themes and protagonist, ignoring Cobra Kai would undermine a meaningful story in Daniel’s arc that fans of the franchise have accepted.
The Karate Kid: Legends trailer has been causing commotion among die-hard fans, premising an action-packed sequel that pulls from the original in the best ways. As both Cobra Kai’s season 6 and the legacy sequel were in production simultaneously, hopes were that the 2025 movie was a direct follow-up to Netflix’s hit series’ ending. On top of Daniel LaRusso’s Cobra Kai family being notably absent from the trailer, another detail hints that Karate Kid: Legends is ignoring the series to reimagine a future for Daniel that might be more aligned with the movies.
Karate Kid: Legends Drops The Biggest Sign Yet That Cobra Kai Never Happened
