'The Karate Kid' reboot is coming to YouTube Red starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka
The Karate Kid series spawned three sequels, a reboot, and the careers of Ralph Macchio and William Zabka. And now thirty-three years later, The Karate Kid (1984) will get a series reboot titled 'Cobra Kai' in the form of a 10-episode half-hour series on YouTube Red according to THR.
The series reboot will reunite Macchio's "Daniel Larusso" and Zabka's "Johnny Lawrence" in their iconic roles set thirty years after the events of the All Valley Karate Tournament. A down-and-out Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo, reigniting his rivalry with a now successful Daniel LaRusso (Macchio). If by chance you're laughing at the very concept, so is Cobra Kai - as it's being billed as a half-hour comedy series.
"If The Karate Kid was Daniel’s story, Cobra Kai is equal parts Daniel and Johnny’s story,” Macchio told THR. “Also because this is a series and not a movie, we really wanted to reimagine how the story was told. Changing the name made sense as part of that.” According to YouTube global head of originals Susanne Daniels, Macchio and Zabka's pitch was "enthusiastic and fun, I don’t know whether they had rehearsed it, but they played the parts of their characters well. More than anything, it was just amazing to see them together again."
I'm picturing Macchio and Zabka in a board room pitching Cobra Kai to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, AMC, and YouTube execs and now all I want to see is a meta series about Cobra Kai's development rather than a half-hour comedy series. But hey, that's just my shitty opinion.
Josh Herald (Hot Tub Time Machine) as well as duo Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (Harold and Kumar) will pen the script. No word on additional casting but one might guess we'll see a few 1984 alumni reprise their roles.
What do you think? Would you subscribe to YouTube Red for Cobra Kai?
