Cobra Kai ended its six-season run by permanently dissolving the rivalry between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). The series also got rid of its Karate Kid villains in the most dramatic way possible.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, showrunner Jon Hurwitz said that Daniel and Johnny reconciling was always the plan. “It was always the idea, speaking specifically for the very end with Johnny and Daniel, we wanted them to be together and finally have a friendship,” he explained. “It’s so funny ’cause I remember in season one when we were making the show, the early notes we got from the studio were, ‘Can Johnny and Daniel be running a dojo together?'”
According to Hurwitz, he and co-showrunners Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg had to tell studio execs that the story would head in that direction eventually. “We’re like, ‘No, that’s the whole [thing], that’s where we’re getting, we’re headed, give us like 65 episodes, and we’ll get there by the end,'” he said, recalling the conversation. “And we wanted to, you know, build a friendship over these seasons [and for] Johnny Lawrence to finally have that redemption, to get him back on that red mat where he’s able to exercise the demons from the past.”
Johnny Lawrence Gets His Happily Ever After
Johnny does get his happy ending at the end of Cobra Kai. After a pep talk from Daniel, he regains his confidence and defeats Sensei Wolf to secure victory at the Sekai Taikai. The pair eventually decide to join forces by blending Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do styles to train the next generation of students. Johnny’s personal life also takes a positive turn, with him and Carmen moving into a new home with their daughter. Johnny also reconciles with Sensei Kreese (Martin Kove) in Season 6, Episode 15 “Strike Last.”
However, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) did not agree with Kreese’s change of heart and fought his former Cobra Kai partner on a yacht which ultimately exploded. “We knew that with Terry and Kreese that we were headed to an explosive conflict between them,” Hurwitz said of the scene. “And we thought that was the most dramatic way to go out – with Sensei Kreese finally stepping up in the ways that he hadn’t in the past for Johnny in the most dramatic way possible.”
Macchio recently said that his character will probably be negatively affected by Kreese and Silver’s violent end. “Daniel LaRusso is still, at his core, a good-hearted human being. On a human level, it’s not, ‘Yay! Ding-dong, the witch is dead. Let’s celebrate!”’ he said ‘I think he’d probably have mixed emotions about it. They got what was coming to them, but on the flip side, it’s just kind of disturbing and unfortunate.”
