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Ralph Macchio, star of The Karate Kid and its hit Netflix series Cobra Kai, discussed some of the terrible ideas for franchise sequels and reboots he's received over the years in his forthcoming memoir.
"Now, in the early days – say, the late 1990s, when I first started hearing ideas – I was pretty much at a point where I wasn't willing to listen," Macchio wrote (via Entertainment Weekly). "This was a period in my career when I was actively trying to separate from the typecasting," Macchio explained. "However, as time went on I would slowly open one ear at a time and attempt to be flexible enough to at least hear them out. I must admit on most occasions it was challenging to get past the first few sentences."
Macchio then revealed some of the pitches he has been given. They range from the absurd ("Miyagi dies tragically and comes back as a ghost to guide you"), to the bizarre ("You have a kid that is a bully and you need to be the Miyagi to your troubled kid... who also has a drug problem"), and the melodramatic ("Ali is pregnant with Johnny's child and you can't deal even though you're now married to Kumiko").
Macchio goes on to reveal his "favorite" of the bad bunch, describing it as: "What if Rocky Balboa had a kid and Daniel-san had a kid and they were both f–ups and you, Ralph and Stallone, come together between New Jersey and Philadelphia to join in a Miyagi/Mickey style of fight training. People would go nuts!"
Yikes. Luckily, Cobra Kai, which stars Macchio and William Zabka in a reprisal of their original roles as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, is one of the streaming platform's most popular – with Cobra Kai season 5 currently sitting at number one on the Netflix Global Top 10. Cobra Kai also earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy series in 2021. A new Karate Kid sequel is in the works, but it isn't from the creators of Cobra Kai – and there's no word yet as to whether Macchio will be involved.
