Karate Kid Revival Movie Casts Cruel Summer's Sadie Stanley

Back in 2022, Sony announced that a new Karate Kid movie was in the works, calling it "the return of the original Karate Kid franchise." Recently, casting news for the project has been pouring in. It previously was revealed that both Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio are returning to reprise their roles from the 2010 and 1984 movies. The film is also set to star American Born Chinese actor Ben Wang, presumably as the titular "kid." The movie will also feature Joshua Jackson, and according to the latest report, Cruel Summer's Sadie Stanley.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stanley will be playing the film's romantic lead opposite Wang. While not much is known about the film's plot, it's been reported that it "will bring the story to the East Coast and focus on a teen from China (Wang) who finds strength and direction via martial arts and a tough but wise mentor (or two)." The project is being helmed by Jonathan Entwistle (I'm Not Okay With This, The End of the F***ing World) from a script by Rob Lieber (Peter Rabbit, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day).

Ralph Macchio Talks "Karate Kid Cinematic Universe:"

With the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai heading to Netflix soon, Macchio recently spoke about expanding the franchise. 

"The thing that's been created, there's kind of this Karate Kid Cinematic Universe now where Cobra Kai is, you know, at the center of that and when that day does come in for a landing, there are other areas to draw from," Macchio told ComicBook.com. "I mean, whether it's ... Is there a Miyagi origin story? Is there a Cobra Kai prequel before The Karate Kid? Is there spin-offs with some of the young cast of these characters? Who knows? But we're not done as long as we're given the opportunity to really bring it in. As long as it evolves organically, these guys that write the show really have their finger on the pulse of that." 

Macchio added, "There's stuff that they wrote in Season 3 that didn't happen until Season 4 'cause there wasn't any more room in Season 3. There's stuff that was in Season 5 that we know we shot that is being held for the future if we get that green light, so there's more to come, we hope."

 The new Karate Kid is scheduled to be released on December 13th.