Mr. Miyagi Actor Pat Morita Pitched a Wild Idea for THE KARATE KID 5 to William Zabka

The Karate Kid actor Pat Morita made his mark as Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid film franchise, starring in the first three films with Ralph Macchio, then the fourth film with Hilary Swank. This was his final role as the character, but he did have an idea for a fifth Karate Kid movie featuring Mr. Miyagi, and it was shared with William Zabka, who played Johnny in the first film.

In a recent interview with Collider, Zabka talked about a conversation he had with Morita before he passed away in 2005, wherein he said Morita pitched him an idea that would have brought Johnny back for the fifth film. He said:

“I had so many people that had ideas for Johnny Lawrence. Actually, my favorite one was Pat Morita himself had an idea. He wasn’t done with Miyagi yet, and this is in his last years. He called me he said, ‘BZ BZ, I have a great idea for Karate Kid 5.’ Miyagi’s going to die, and he wanted him to have a proper Okinawan burial, but while he’s sick, he saw Johnny Lawrence as being his doctor, and I thought that was interesting. That was probably the wildest idea I could’ve imagined, and coming from Pat Morita, it was awesome.”

I think this actually could have worked, and would have been interesting to see play out. But it would have put Johnny on a different track from where he ended up in the Cobra Kai sequel series. I love that show, so I don’t want to change anything about it. But I have always been team Johnny, so to see him become a doctor and be more successful than Daniel LaRusso is a tempting storyline…

What do you think? Would you have liked to have seen this story in a fifth Karate Kid film?

via: CinemaBlend