The Karate Kid's Daniel-san and Johnny doing battle again in comedy series Cobra Kai

The stars of 1984’s original ‘The Karate Kid’ are reuniting for an offbeat small screen revival of the beloved movie series.

‘Cobra Kai,’ a ten-episode comedy series being produced for Youtube Red, will see Ralph Macchio, the lead of the original ‘Karate Kid’ trilogy from director John G Avildsen (who sadly died earlier this year), reprise the role of Daniel LaRusso – AKA ‘Daniel-san’ – alongside William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence, his arch-rival in the first film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Cobra Kai’ is set 30 years after Daniel-san’s victory against Johnny at the All Valley Karate Tournament (we didn’t need to put a spoiler warning there, did we…?). The show sees Johnny “down and out” and “seeking redemption,” to which end he re-opens the Cobra Kai dojo, clearly aiming to teach that old “mercy is for the weak” philosophy to a new generation of spoiled bullies.

Daniel, meanwhile, has proven a greater success in adulthood, but is “struggling to maintain balance in his life without the guidance of his mentor, Mr. Miyagi” – the show acknowledging the sad loss of Pat Morita, who played the wise old Okinawan sensei in the original trilogy, as well as the 1994 soft reboot ‘The Next Karate Kid,’ opposite a young Hilary Swank. Morita died of kidney failure in 2005, at the age of 73.

The creative team behind ‘Cobra Kai’ includes ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ writer Josh Heald and ‘Harold and Kumar’ creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. Still, even though the show is pitched as a comedy, it seems the plan is to make a canonical sequel to the original ‘Karate Kid’ saga. (It seems safe to assume the 2010 remake with Jackie Chan and Jayden Smith won’t factor into things.)

In a joint statement to THR, the writers explain, “Like everyone who grew up in the 1980s, the three of us are enormous fans of ‘The Karate Kid​.’ ‘Cobra Kai​’ will be a true continuation of the original films — packed with comedy, heart and thrilling fight scenes.”

However, while the writers say they “can’t wait to reignite the LaRusso-Lawrence rivalry,” they also stress that, as the title change might suggest, this story will take a more balanced approach than the original film: “If ‘The Karate Kid’ was Daniel’s story, ‘Cobra Kai’ is equal parts Daniel and Johnny’s story… Changing the name made sense as part of that.”

No word on whether we can expect that other notable ‘Karate Kid’ star Elisabeth Shue to make an appearance as Ali, over whose affections Daniel and Johnny were fighting… but we can only hope.

‘Cobra Kai’ is expected to air at some point in 2018.

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