Cobra Kai proved to be the rare smash-hit in a sea of reboots, most of which have been falling all over themselves. Yet the Netflix (and previously YouTube Red) series has shown an unparalleled ability to effectively harness nostalgia while also crane-kicking the generation gap, and the loyal audience now awaits Season 6 after maintaining the “The Eye Of The Tiger” with Season 5.
Everyone loves the underdogs in this Miyagi-verse (as coined by star Ralph Macchio), so when will we see the beloved (and very much canon) show return? Here’s what we can expect when Cobra Kai returns to the dojo of your living room.
Plot
Are you ready for One Last Fight? The series actually could have logically ended with Season 5, given that good had finally prevailed against the ultimate karate evil, and various romantic pairings seemed to have reached peaceful equilibriums. Still, there are open threads to be mined for potential. That includes a future redemption arc for Kenny as well as an international tournament, which would not be far-fetched for this franchise and likely add up to the promise of “the biggest and baddest” season on the books.
At the moment, there’s a wrinkle that viewers wouldn’t mind further unfurling. The newly announced The Karate Kid movie starring Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan, has prompted questions about whether the story will cross over into Cobra Kai territory, even without the showrunners involved with the Sony Pictures Entertainment film. The show is, after all, vital to this fanbase and coming from the same studio, so stay tuned for more on that note.
For now, we will need to guess at the rest of Season 6’s plot points. Obviously, Johnny Lawrence will receive another chance to not be a f*ck-up father, and as Ralph Macchio noted, the “karate soap opera” factor continues. Macchio also previously hinted that the dojo could go international again in a big way:
“They’ve set up the international element of it, they’ve set up the master Kim in Korea. They set up Kreese, and they also set up that everything’s going back to normal and they’ve finally succeeded. But in a soap opera, as Cobra Kai is a karate soap opera, when one door closes, there’s always more that will open. There’s certainly room for that.”
That was the same sentiment expressed to us by Jacob Bertrand (Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz) when he spoke to us. Actually, Bertrand wanted a Kreese-Hawk team up as well as the global tour:
“Oh my god… This is my dream, that I somehow am linked up with Kreese, fresh out of prison. We start some illegal ring of some sort, and I go back to the bad side. I’m kidding, but I think it would be so cool if we got a Season 6, and we actually got to go to some crazy world tournament. And actually go to Brazil or something and not like it have it be, ‘Oh we’re in Brazil! But it’s really just a basement studio in Atlanta’”
Cast
It seems likely that Terry Silver’s days are done with him heading off to jail and losing dojo clout due to that crane kick in the Season 5 finale. Thomas Ian Griffith will be missed, but Martin Kove will probably be back as John Kreese and be exonerated with the truth coming out about Stingray’s assault. So, more Paul Walter Hauser? We shall see.
Otherwise, we will obviously be seeing Ralph Macchio and William Zabka will return as Daniel and Johnny Lawrence. The returning younger generation includes Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Peyton List, Gianni DeCenzo, and Dallas Dupree Young. The show also must get Yuji Okumoto back in as Chosen, perhaps with another butt double in tow.
Release Date
When Season 6 received the formal announcement in January 2023, Netflix dropped a little video that promised “soon,” but of course, this year has been chaos in Hollywood. Now that pens are back up, one can expect the next season to arrive as quick as possible like the rest of the seasons. However, reality is still a thing, so a good guess would be holiday season 2024. The New Year’s Eve/Day release schedule is one favored by this show, so that could be the plan.
Trailer
No trailer exists yet, but here’s a teaser to tide viewers over:
And also, send it to the internet:
Fingers crossed for more Cobra Kai soon.