Ralph Macchio Talks Return to ‘Karate Kid’ Films & the Franchise’s Future

Ralph Macchio is back on the big screen in a Karate Kid film, a place he hasn’t been in 36 years.

Macchio starred as Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid 1, 2 and 3 in the ’80s, before sitting out 1994’s The Next Karate Kid and 2010’s The Karate Kid remake. He reprised his role in six seasons of Cobra Kai and is now back for Karate Kid: Legends, starring alongside Jackie Chan, who appeared in the 2010 film.

At the Legends premiere in New York this week, Macchio told The Hollywood Reporter that his decision to return to the films came after many discussions with the studio, as “I was in the middle of Cobra Kai and we were still finishing that story, so I wanted to know where it was landing in Daniel LaRusso’s narrative and his evolution. And once we figured out it was three years later and we landed him in the series [as] kind of the best version of himself through his little midlife crisis of the Cobra Kai soap opera, there’s an element of him being more Miyagi in his way and paying that legacy forward to a kid who needs his help.”

There was also the appeal of connecting his films with Chan’s, with the link that Chan’s character Mr. Han knew Daniel LaRusso’s teacher Mr. Miyagi, in a way that “that feels authentic and honors the legacy of the entire franchise, and I think we do that,” Macchio said.

Karate Kid: Legends is now in theaters.

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