The 1980s were a long time ago, and Ralph Macchio thought he’d left The Karate Kid behind forever. For a long time, he’d had no interest in anything having to do with his old character, Daniel LaRusso, and he’d even come to think of the role as something of an albatross. But then, a team of producers contacted him — a trio of Karate Kid super-fans who’d achieved success in their own right with the Harold & Kumar movies — and pitched something he hadn’t expected: an idea he actually liked! The producers were Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, and their idea was Cobra Kai, picking up the rivalry between LaRusso and his high school nemesis, Johnny Lawrence, as adult men in their 40s. Macchio was intrigued, and he told us why he finally decided to agree to make the show. (Click on the media bar below to hear Ralph Macchio)
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