Netflix Tudum
Big news for the Miyagiverse: “Cobra Kai” is returning for its sixth and final season beginning this week.
While Season 5 concluded on a relatively peaceful note, you can rest assured that there’s more action on the way in the epic 15-episode, three-part event. Part 1 premieres on Netflix on July 18, followed by Part 2 on Nov. 24. The third and final part will arrive in 2025. All three batches will consist of five episodes each.
Picking up with Cobra Kai eliminated from the Valley, our senseis — Daniel (Ralph Macchio), Johnny (William Zabka) and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) — and their students are already hard at work preparing for their next big challenge. They must decide if and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai — the world championships of karate.
“That takes things to the next level,” co-showrunner Hayden Schlossberg told Tudum about the Sekai Taikai looming over the horizon after Season 5.
Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) may have been defeated at the end of last season, but don’t forget that Cobra Kai founder John Kreese (Martin Kove) is back in play after faking his death and escaping from prison. What could he have planned with newly found freedom?
“There’s lots of surprises in Season 6. You’ll love it,” Kove teases in a behind-the-scenes video from the set in February. That sneak peek shows the cast preparing for set, practicing martial arts, and getting pumped for the episodes ahead.
“It’s gonna be a banger,” says Xolo Maridueña, who plays Miguel Diaz.
Daniel also learns about a secret that his late sensei, Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita in the “Karate Kid” films) kept from him.
The cast also includes Jacob Bertrand, Mary Mouser, Tanner Buchanan, Peyton List, Gianni DeCenzo, Courtney Henggeler, Vanessa Rubio, Dallas Dupree Young, Alicia Hannah-Kim, Griffin Santopietro and Oona O’Brien.
“Cobra Kai” is written and executive produced by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Schlossberg via their production company, Counterbalance Entertainment.
When it was announced that “Cobra Kai” was ending after its sixth season, the trio wrote a letter to fans in which they invoked the journey of original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso from when he first arrived in the Valley in 1984 to the present day, where he’s helped influence a new generation of underdog heroes, formed unlikely alliances, and honored the lessons of Mr. Miyagi, in a dojo of his own. This is the conclusion to the journey that the executive producers wanted to offer Daniel and Johnny — and everyone else in the Miyagiverse.
“Our Day 1 goal with ‘Cobra Kai’ has always been to end it on our terms, leaving the Valley in the time and place we’ve always imagined,” they wrote. “So it is with immense pride and thankfulness that we are able to announce that achievement. … While this may be a bittersweet day for the fandom, the Miyagiverse has never been stronger.”
The show’s other executive producers include Will Smith, James Lassiter, and Caleeb Pinkett for Westbrook Entertainment; Susan Ekins in association with Sony Pictures Television; Macchio and Zabka.
But don’t forget: Cobra Kai never dies.