He was first the American-Born Chinese and now, he’s set to be the new Karate Kid!

Ben Wang beat out over 1,000 hopefuls to take on the coveted role of the new martial arts hero-in-training in a new installment of the original franchise that began with the 1984 film and went through four films, a 2010 reboot, and a sequel series, Cobra Kai, which is currently filming its sixth and final season.

While plot details themselves are under wraps, what is known is that Wang will play Li Feng, a teen from China who comes to the U.S.A. and finds himself victimized by bullying and learns martial arts. Wang has martial arts experience, training in kung fu, Wing Chun, Taekwondo, and Kenpo Karate, and Gumdo to name a few.

Aside from Wang, Ralph Macchio is returning as Daniel LaRusso and in a surprise announcement in December 2023, Jackie Chan would be joining the cast as Mr. Han, the mentor of the 2010 reboot. It’s going to be quite interesting to see how this will turn out.

Jonathan Entwistle is directing the film with Karen Rosenfelt producing. Rob Lieber wrote the screenplay for the new film, which will begin production soon as Sony plans to release this on December 13, 2024.

H/T: THR