Jackie Chan Enlists Ralph Macchio for Help in First 'Karate Kid: Legends' Trailer

5 days ago 3

Karate Kid fans know that 2025 will be a bittersweet year for them. Aside from saying goodbye to the long-running and hit Netflix series Cobra Kai, they will also get the chance to watch a brand-new Karate Kid movie, as Karate Kid: Legends hits theaters on May 30, 2025. The new feature film pairs up Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) for an exciting adventure. The first trailer for the film arrived this morning, and it provides new details about where the plot is headed.

Every Cobra Kai and Karate Kid fan will get chills when Mr. Han starts narrating and tells Daniel LaRusso that he didn't go to his dojo looking for the late Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), he is there looking for LaRusso. As one might expect, there will be a lot of jacket-removing and putting on as Mr. Han takes on the tutelage of Li (Ben Wang). And, from the looks of it, the boy is to Han what LaRusso was to Miyagi, and all of them will band together in order to create a new legacy.

The trailer also makes it clear that newcomer Wang is pretty much a martial arts master—something that the actor already demonstrated in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese. The boy will have an arc similar to the young LaRusso in the 80s franchise: suffer a dose of bullying, have a lot of bottled-up anger, and eventually learn how to channel his frustration into martial arts techniques. Even though we are all interested in checking up on Han and LaRusso, it looks like Karate Kid: Legends will give its new character plenty of room to shine and conquer audiences' hearts and minds.

Karate Kid: Legends is directed by Jonathan Entwistle, who previously wrote and directed episodes from series like The End of The F*** World and I Am Not Okay With This. The new installment of the Karate Kid franchise will be his first blockbuster. The screenplay is written by Rob Lieber, who also penned Peter Rabbit and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The cast also features Joshua Jackson (Dr. Death), Ming-Na Wen (Mulan), Sadie Stanley (Cruel Summer) and Shaunette Renée Wilson (The Resident).

For fans who are wondering, it doesn't look like there will be any overlap between the final episodes of Cobra Kai and Karate Kid: Legends. The trailer makes no mention of the events of the series, and no other characters from the show besides LaRusso make an appearance. So far, it looks like all moviegoers will need to know going into the new installment is that LaRusso opened his own dojo with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).

Karate Kid: Legends premieres in theaters on May 30. You can check out the trailer above and the film's synopsis is as follows:

In Karate Kid: Legends, after a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang) is uprooted from his home in Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. Li struggles to let go of his past as he tries to fit in with his new classmates, and although he doesn't want to fight, trouble seems to find him everywhere. When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition – but his skills alone aren't enough. Li's kung fu teacher Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown.