(Spoilers for The Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai will be found below.)
The Karate Kid franchise celebrates the underdogs, and there’s no greater underdog than a revival series that hits all four quadrants. That’s Cobra Kai to the point where Netflix couldn’t help but immediately greenlight several additional seasons after picking up the show following two YouTube Red seasons. The show’s still infuratingly good, and the show left viewers with several lingering questions: (1) What will happen to John Kreese after Terry Silver betrayed him in the worst way? (2) Will Tory depart from the Cobra Kai dojo after her discovery? (3) Where the hell will Miguel end up after heading towards Mexico to find his father?
Those questions will have to wait for answers. In the meantime, when will we see Season 5 and more crane-kicking goodness? Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg have been running a (relatively) tight ship during the pandemic by continuing to shoot at warp speed (working with a half-younger cast means that is a very smart approach), so we’re still receiving new seasons like clockwork. And here’s what Hawk actor Jacob Bertrand recently told us about the already-wrapped Season 5:
“We actually just wrapped… It was weird because we filmed two seasons in one year. In 2021, we filmed both Season 4 and Season 5, so it’s really hard to differentiate what happened before in Season 4 and things that I’m not even allowed to bring up about Season 5. This year has felt long but short at the same time.”
Jacob obviously couldn’t spill too much about what’s going down with the questions that need answering. However, we do know that Hawk will be back and fresh off his trophy-winning spree. And we know that the creators are committed to staying faithful to the spirit of The Karate Kid franchise. They’ve kept things authentic and real here while staying just serious enough about the characters’ struggles. And we can probably expect the show to stick with a Winter 2022-2023 release, so it’ll either mean new episodes in December 2022 or January 2023. And more knockouts at the dojo(s).
Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ is currently streaming the first four seasons on Netflix.