Following in Ralph Macchio's Footsteps While Starring Beside Him (and Also Fighting Jackie Chan): Ben Wang Chats 'Karate Kid: Legends'

When you've scored the gig of playing Karate Kid: Legends' new titular character — the first part of the movie's moniker, not the second — stepping into shoes previously worn by Ralph Macchio (The Deuce) in three 80s films, then by Hilary Swank (Yellowjackets) in the 90s and Jaden Smith (Entergalactic) in 2010, is indeed a daunting prospect. That's the reality for American Born Chinese and Mean Girls star Ben Wang, and he's well-aware of what putting on the gi in the Miyagiverse means. "It's terrifying," he tells Concrete Playground. "I know how many people love these movies, so I want to make sure that we get it right."

Wang isn't just merely familiar with the fact that people are fond of 1984's The Karate Kid and its four other follow-ups before his film (on the small screen, streaming series Cobra Kai also amassed a devoted following across its six-season run between 2018–25). His journey with a saga that made "wax on, wax off" one of cinema's most-famous phrases, then added "jacket on, jacket off" in the 21st century, actually commenced as a fan himself. Securing the part of Karate Kid: Legends' fresh-faced martial-arts prodigy Li Fong involved being up for a battle to begin with, given that he was among more than 10,000 actors who auditioned. It also required someone with existing fighting skills, which Wang boasts after being inspired by The Karate Kid circa 2010.

As Li, he's following in iconic footsteps, clearly. He's also entering a film and TV universe with personal significance to him. And, he's doing all of that while starring beside The Karate Kid's OG teen in Macchio — and also alongside Jackie Chan (A Legend), who debuted as kung fu shifu Mr Han opposite Smith in the flick that Wang grew up with.

There's an extra layer to his casting, too, that can now be called a theme across his career. For Wang, Karate Kid: Legends is another project that partly connects to his own experience. His role in American Born Chinese with Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-winners Michelle Yeoh (Wicked) and Ke Huy Quan (The Electric State) reflected his own childhood as the only Asian kid in his class for years. Now, Li mirrors the move that he made from China to America when he was young. While Wang relocated from Shanghai to Minnesota, his Karate Kid: Legends character is whisked from Beijing to New York when his mother (Ming-Na Wen, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai) accepts a new job.

Dave Allocca/StarPix for Sony Pictures

Viewers know going in that karate kids tend to find themselves training for a showdown. Thanks to the Five Boroughs Tournament, Li is no different. Also a recognisable staple that's present here: a nemesis that needs facing with flying fists and feet. Consequently, Karate Kid: Legends pits its protagonist against Conor Day (Aramis Knight, Ms Marvel), the aggressive ex-boyfriend of Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley, Cruel Summer), one of Li's new NYC friends. Yes, Han's expertise is called upon as his former student prepares. Macchio's Daniel LaRusso is also enlisted to assist, making the trip from California. Their job: to help Li combine kung fu and karate. That said, Karate Kid: Legends recognises that its main character already has skills by getting him doing his own teaching first, showing Mia's pizzeria-proprietor dad Victor (Joshua Jackson, Doctor Odyssey) — a former boxer — some moves so that he can try to hop back into the ring to settle his debts.

Six years since his first-ever screen role in The Untamed, after also popping up in MacGyver and The Last OG — plus episodes of Launchpad and Search Party as well, and also featuring in movies Sex Appeal, Chang Can Dunk, Sight, Good Egg and Isle Child — Wang is on both sides of the Karate Kid Universe's beloved sensei-student dynamic, then. In a likeable addition to the franchise that knows how to hits its marks, he's visibly getting a kick out of everything that portraying Li demands. The thrill of being cast, the links to his own experiences, mentorship off-screen, shaking up who's doing the guiding: when we chatted with Wang, we also discussed all of the above.

On the Excitement of Becoming the New Karate Kid (and Kung Fu Kid) While Starring Alongside the OG in Ralph Macchio

The joys of being chosen to play Li are many for Wang. "I mean, I feel like if you tell any kid that he's going to get to fight Jackie Chan, they'd get pretty excited about it," he notes.

"These are movies that I've been a fan of myself since I was a kid. I saw the Jackie Chan remake — that came out when I was in elementary school, and I saw it in a theatre. And I loved it. It's one of the reasons why I started doing martial arts in the first place."

"And Ralph's films were passed down to me by my aunt. They were her favourite films. So I understand how much love there is for this franchise and for these characters."

"So getting to be a part of it, after I've been a fan of it for so long, is a bit surreal. But it's fun." And yes, facing off against Chan is both enjoyable and tough, Wang advises. "Fighting, doing a fight scene with Jackie Chan, is as fun and as hard as you think it is."

On the Personal Links with Wang's Experiences and Both Karate Kid: Legends and American Born Chinese

A three-year stretch that spans scoring a lead TV role and then becoming the next Karate Kid star is a fantasy for an actor. Wang's gleaming current run looks set to continue via Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk opposite Mark Hamill (The King of Kings), reuniting with that film's director Frances Lawrence for 2026's The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, plus a Jon Hamm (Your Neighbours and Friends)-starring and David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer)-directed comedy.

The type of affinity with his characters and their experiences that he's been finding in Karate Kid: Legends and American Born Chinese are also dream — and rare — developments. That's purely been good fortune.

"I mean, I've just been lucky," Wang reflects. "Both American Born Chinese and this film, and a lot of other films I did, I'm not for this and for that. I wasn't at a point in my career yet where I was able to make choices about what I was taking."

"I just got lucky that the projects that existed and wanted me to be a part of them also had in them these great characters that so reflected my own experience. So it's a point of luck and it's also a point of pride for me to have been able to bring these characters to life."

On How the Film's Theme of Mentorship Translated Off-Screen with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan

When learning from experienced veterans and guiding new generations is a core component of a film or TV show's plot, does it translate among the cast when the cameras aren't rolling? In streaming's new Owen Wilson (Loki)-led golfing comedy Stick, the answer was yes according to its cast, for instance. For Wang with Macchio and Chan on Karate Kid: Legends, he describes it as "kind of a watch-and-learn sort of thing".

"These guys are, they're amazing at what they do. Jackie has been making movies since he was six-and-a-half years old. He's made, I think, somewhere around 20 million films," Wang continues.

"And Ralph has been the karate kid — this character, he's been dedicated to this character in this storyline, for 40 years. So he's the Pliny the Elder of Karate Kid. He keeps the books."

"So it's really just as long as you're open, you're going to absorb some things, and that's just what I tried to do."

On What It Means That Wang's Karate Kid Isn't Just Soaking in Wisdom From Everyone Else, But Is Also Passing on His Own Skills

Under director Jonathan Entwistle (I Am Not Okay with This) and screenwriter Rob Lieber (Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween), that Karate Kid: Legends lets Li instruct as well as absorb isn't a minor detail — and its importance isn't lost on Wang, either.

"Yeah, it's a great play on the formula of the franchise. I think it's a great way to expand the theme that you're talking about, of mentorship," he says.

"What does it mean to be a good teacher? What does it mean to have a good teacher? And who can be a teacher and who can be a student?": for Wang, they're the movie's thoughtful questions as a result.

Karate Kid: Legends opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, June 5, 2025 and opens in New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, June 26, 2025.