American born Chinese Ben Wang comes on board Karate Kid

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The new Karate Kid movie has found its star in American Born Chinese's Ben Wang, who will join Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio.

The Hollywood Reporter dropped the exclusive yesterdayon February 12, ending the worldwide search that the studio began in late 2023. Studio insiders claim that “Wang gave an outstanding audition that demonstrated his deep connection to the character” that won him the role along with his martial arts experience.

Those who watched the now cancelled Disney+ The American Born Chinese series, a strong adaptation of Gene Luen Yang's coming-of-age fantasy graphic novel, you know Wang is more than capable, so this is inspired casting on Sony's part.

We do know that the story is supposed to bring together the 2010 Karate Kid movie, in which Chan and Jaden Smith tried to lead a reboot of the franchise, and the much more successful Cobra Kai series from YouTube and Netflix. So yeah, it looks like The Karate Kid is essentially becoming a shared universe.

Otherwise, plot details remain under wraps, but we do know that the story is set on the East Coast of the United States and will center on “a Chinese teenager who finds strength and direction through martial arts and a tough but wise mentor (or maybe two).” We don't expect things to go much differently from previous installments of the surprisingly long-lived franchise, but its fandoms are probably more than okay.

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