If this new film is supposed to be a complete reboot, it wouldn’t make very much sense, considering the popularity of the ongoing Netflix series and how loved those characters and that universe is.
If it’s supposed to be a continuation of the original film series, I don’t see how they can go forward without completely retconning everything that happened in the Cobra Kai series. Unless, of course, they followed different or new characters but it still takes place in the same world. Also, It it says that it’s “the return of the original Karate Kid franchise”, so I presume it’s the same universe as the original film series. But, with Sony, you never really know.
Either way, this time around, just to change things up, would be kind of cool to have a female master, and possibly a female protagonist. Kind of an obvious choice, but I think Michelle Yeoh would kick all kinds of a** in a role like that, especially after seeing how much gravitas and dramatic heft she brought to something like EEAAO.