Ralph Macchio has an intriguing ambition to direct a spinoff about Daniel LaRusso, and Star Trek already proved his plan would work over 40 years ago. Cobra Kai season 6 concluded the present-day saga of Daniel LaRusso and his eternal-rival-turned-friend, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Daniel ended Cobra Kai by acting as Johnny's sensei, helping Lawrence win the Sekai Taikai world tournament. Daniel and Johnny also shared the satisfaction of teaching a new generation of students their combined Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai karate.

Daniel LaRusso's story continues in Karate Kid: Legends, picking up a few years after Cobra Kai ended. Recruited by Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) to help train his beloved student, Li Fong (Ben Wang), Daniel-san passed on Mr. Miyagi's (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita) lessons to the newest karate kid. Daniel's story in his late high school years was the focus of The Karate Kid's first three movies, and Cobra Kai chronicled LaRusso's life as an adult, husband, father, and sensei. However, by going back to his very beginning.

Ralph Macchio dreams of directing an origin story for Daniel LaRusso set before the events of The Karate Kid. Macchio expressed his desire during Newport Beach TV Fest's Cobra Kai panel, where he received the Artist of Distinction award. Macchio told the crowd of Cobra Kai fanatics:

I’ve always wanted to know who Daniel LaRusso was up until he was 15 ½ years old. We never really talk about who his real father was. You never see him really address that. You know, the first fifteen years of your life is stuff you talk about forever... That’s an area… I would love to direct that [Daniel’s origin], whatever that might be...

As Ralph Macchio points out, when audiences meet Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid, he's mourning the loss of his father. The Karate Kid doesn't delve into who Daniel's father was, focusing instead on his relationship with his new mentor and father figure, Mr. Miyagi. However, , and it informs Daniel-san's moodiness and anger in The Karate Kid. Ralph now wants to tell the full story after over 40 years.

Ralph Macchio directing a Cobra Kai spinoff about Daniel LaRusso has a successful precedent: Leonard Nimoy directing Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. After the Vulcan was killed off in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Nimoy campaigned to direct the sequel involving Spock's resurrection., and Nimoy got the job. Star Trek III was a success, but Leonard's follow-up, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, standing as the highest-grossing Star Trek film for 23 years.

"Ralph Macchio directing Daniel LaRusso's origin" has the same allure as "Leonard Nimoy directing The Search for Spock." Macchio directed Cobra Kai season 6, episode 3, "Sleeper," which showcased his filmmaking talent. Ralph's Cobra Kai episode saw Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) and Tory Nichols (Peyton List) resolve their feud and become friends, at last.

Director Ralph Macchio evoked Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now for the scenes centering on John Kreese (Martin Kove) in South Korea. , and Sony Television could model it after Leonard Nimoy's success directing Star Trek movies.

Post-Cobra Kai, there's no one better than Ralph Macchio to map out Daniel's untold origin story, which would have to be a period piece set in early 1980s New Jersey. Macchio came of age in that era, and . Macchio would also be ideal to personally cast a new young actor to play a fifteen-year-old Daniel LaRusso. Young Daniel's New Jersey setting would return to and open up a new locale for the ever-expanding and limitless "Miyagiverse."

If Ralph Macchio gets his wish, then he could personally complete Daniel LaRusso's story and finally answer the biggest question about Daniel-san's past. Just as, in the Star Trek movies of the 1980s, no one understood Spock better than Leonard Nimoy, no one is closer to and knows the character of Daniel LaRusso like Ralph Macchio does.

couldn't fit Daniel's untold story in its six seasons, but Ralph Macchio directing the prequel of Daniel LaRusso and his father could tap into the same kind of magic as Leonard Nimoy directing Spock in the Star Trek movies.