As Entwistle shared with the outlet, he definitely thinks Jaden Smith’s The Karate Kid character is still absolutely canon and out there somewhere in the world of Karate Kid: Legends. It seems like perhaps he wasn’t deemed necessary to the story of Ben Wang’s Li Fong and therefore is not in this new movie.

Legends may be getting praise for Ben Wang, but a new update confirms a very frustrating element of the franchise's cinematic return.

A lack of Asian-American characters has long plagued the series, but Ben Wang’s casting in Karate Kid: Legends shows how times have changed.