Ralph Macchio Celebrates 35 Years of ‘The Karate Kid’ and Previews Season 3 of ‘Cobra Kai’

‘The Karate Kid’ (1984)

Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and his single mom, Lucille (Randee Heller), move to Southern California for what’s seen as a new beginning, but it isn’t long before Daniel finds himself targeted by students of the Cobra Kai karate school — particularly Johny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove). Hope comes in the form of Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), a repairman in Daniel’s apartment complex who trains him in the art of karate to defend himself. This ultimately leads to Daniel participating in a tournament that sees him going up against — and beating — Johnny.

‘The Karate Kid Part II’ (1986)

Daniel accompanies Mr. Miyagi to Okinawa following the news that Miyagi’s father has died. Once in Japan, Miyagi finds himself embroiled in conflict with an old friend while Daniel must learn once again how to defend himself, this time against local karate students. This is a very strong sequel.

‘The Karate Kid Part III’ (1989)

And this is where the franchise goes off the rails. Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), a friend of John Kreese, tries to help his old friend out by driving a wedge between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, and it works — for a time, until Daniel discovers the truth and must find the eye of the tiger (wait, wrong film series; sorry).

‘The Next Karate Kid’ (1994)

Daniel has moved on, but it doesn’t mean Mr. Miyagi’s teaching days are over. Traveling to Boston to attend a military reunion, he meets the granddaughter of his late commanding officer, Julie (Hilary Swank), whose parents recently died in a car crash. Mr. Miyagi brings her to a Buddhist monastery and he begins to train her so that she can find inner balance again.

‘Cobra Kai’ (2018-)

Official Description: Thirty years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, Johnny Lawrence’s life has taken a rocky turn as he tries to forget a past that constantly haunts him. He seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo. But the LaRusso-Lawrence rivalry of yesteryear is reignited when their lives become intertwined with the next generation of ‘karate kids.’

Please continue scrolling down for the rest of our interview with Ralph Macchio.

Shades of Gray in Daniel on ‘Cobra Kai

Prior to the arrival of Cobra Kai, Daniel LaRusso as a character was pretty much looked at as a good guy, but as the show is going on, we’re discovering that isn’t necessarily the full picture. Ralph points out, “In this show, all characters have gray areas. Each episode, your allegiance could change. I mean, certainly at the outset of our series, it was designed through the eyes of Johnny Lawrence. They set it up that LaRusso is this cocky guy, but LaRusso always had a cocky element about him. If I got beat up once in 1984, I wouldn’t go back again. But LaRusso kept going there and no one ever didn’t cheer for him. The kid was beaten up and he had this great man, Mr. Miyagi, this human Yoda, who gave him all the answers.”

Different, But Same

He continues, “Now he has all the good intentions, but he may have lost a little balance in his life. The same thing with Johnny Lawrence in a different way. It’s really the line that he has in the movie, he looks at the picture of the girl, Elisabeth Shue, Miyagi goes, ‘Different, but same.’ And I say, ‘Different, but different.’ He goes, ‘No, different, but same.’ It’s a theme that runs in our show. Lawrence and LaRusso are different, but same. They both grew up without a father, they both had sensei mentors, one from a dark side and one from a light side, but they both have martial arts in their lives. Who knows, if they switched things, they might have been the other person, as opposed to LaRusso is the bad guy now. His intentions are always good, just sometimes they get in each other’s way.”

Essential Conflict

The way the second season ended, it felt like Daniel and Johnny were pretty much on the same page, but it would seem the conflict between them is a necessary component of the show. “That’s something we always talk about,” Ralph admits, “because it is a rivalry series and it’s built on that. Hatfields and the McCoys, the Capulets and the Montagues, and then we have the star-crossed lovers, who are like the young Romeo and Juliet. It does really have those. It is a soap opera in a way, but the beauty of how they’ve written Johnny and Daniel is we enjoy them when they’re getting along as much as we enjoy them when they’re in each other’s face, because you know at any moment, one little thing … time bomb, it’s like a minefield. Even if going forward they coexist or work together in some way, it’s the odd couple. It’s a married couple that can’t live with each other and they can’t live without each other. I think that can be entertaining and still play into the rivalry of these guys pushing each other’s buttons.”

Family Dynamic

It would seem that season 3 will have to delve more into Daniel’s marriage with Amanda (Courtney Henggeler), as there are definitely issues that have arisen between the two of them. “I think so,” Ralph reflects. “I’m hoping so, because then it becomes real. I’ve been married 32 years and it’s the greatest in the world, but there are ebbs and flows and ups and downs and tough times, and we fail constantly. You know, as parents we fail and in relationships we fail, and it’s just about believing in the cohesiveness of the foundation of that, which is what I believe and why my wife and I feel that way as far as being together always. I think with Amanda and Daniel, this does create a setback, but also I’d like for Amanda to realize why Daniel has overreacted about all of this, because it’s led to something. I mean, they need to better themselves. At the end of the day, you would love that marriage to be stronger once they go through the difficulty, but I’m hoping we don’t candy coat that.”

Teasing Season 3

While Ralph can’t say much about what’s on the way, he does tease, “We’re going to dive into the origins of Miyagi-Do. There’s a storyline that takes Daniel to Okinawa this season. So that’s big news. Not for the whole season, but like little sections, and he’s going to learn some things that he might not have known and then he’s going to bring that back with him. Then the same thing will happen for Cobra Kai, learning the base of what created Cobra Kai and where it went and why. That’s kind of cool stuff for this season.”

Why We Still Care

Thirty-five years later, the true question is why we still care about Daniel LaRusso and the whole concept of The Karate Kid. “These are characters that we grew up with,” muses Ralph. “These are characters that represent a piece of our childhood and the fact that we’ve been able to take those characters and the story and the events of that time and expand on them and create a whole new universe that still doesn’t leave, tonally, what it initially was, is I think why. It’s like having the best dessert ever.”