Ralph Macchio on working with martial arts icon Jackie Chan on the new Karate Kid movie, which will be released next year.
Cobra Kai may be coming to an end, but we haven’t seen the last of Daniel LaRusso. Ralph Macchio has returned for a new Karate Kid movie, which also stars Jackie Chan, and the actor spoke with THR about getting to work with the martial arts legend.
“Jackie Chan is a legend, just to have that opportunity was exciting. He was wonderful,” Macchio said. “Lot of heart, lot of soul and caring, I will say that about Jackie. He loves being on set and it was like his first day every day. I love seeing that at his age and time of his career because I like to try to bring that as well, but a great young cast on that one, and we’ll see where it goes.” Seeing those two on screen together will be something special.
The new Karate Kid movie, which wrapped production last month, blends the Cobra Kai universe and the reboot universe together. The film stars Ben Wang (American Born Chinese) as a young teenager from China who finds identity and strength in martial arts. During his journey of self-discovery, Wang’s character meets a disciplined martial arts master. Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio reprising their roles of Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso. Joshua Jackson (Fatal Attraction) and Ming-Na Wen (The Mandalorian) also appear in the movie, alongside Sadie Stanley (Cruel Summer) as the romantic lead. Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World) directed the movie from a script by Rob Lieber (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day).
The first five episodes of the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai debuted on Netflix today. Part 2 will follow on November 15th, and Part 3 will conclude the series next year. Unfortunately, our own Alex Maidy struggled to get excited about these first episodes but admitted that it’s hard to judge the season without having seen two-thirds of it. “This is the first season where the opening chapters completely underwhelmed me,” Maidy wrote. “With too many red herrings and retreads of previous conflicts, Cobra Kai VI opens with a disappointing start to what should have been a slam-dunk wrap for this popular franchise. Maybe because a feature film is on the way, there is still hope for this story, but it feels more than ever before like Cobra Kai has run out of steam.” You can check out the rest of Maidy’s review right here.
The new Karate Kid movie will hit theaters on May 30, 2025.