As the new trailer for Cobra Kai’s sixth and final season on Netflix dropped, co-creators Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz have explained their reasons for concluding the series with its upcoming three-part season. As a spin-off from The Karate Kid, Cobra Kai’s beginnings as a YouTube original in 2018 proved to be just the beginning of a series that brought nostalgic memories of the ‘80s movie flooding back, and ended up reviving the entire franchise.
The Emmy nominated series managed to create its own legacy, while never forgetting where it came from, with appearances by original Karate Kid stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka among the roster of new faces. While a new Karate Kid movie is currently in development to continue the franchise, Schlossberg and Hurwitz have opened up about why it was the right time to close the doors on Cobra Kai. Speaking to ScreenRant, Schlossberg explained:
“The point was in season 5 to have the kids kind of come together so that they can kind of join as one giant team in this Sekai Tekai against the next level fighters that they’re about to face. There were still some hanging chads left at the end of season 5, namely Kreese, so we’ll see what happens with all that. But yeah, we knew in season 5 that we were in endgame times by doing that, and it wasn’t until after we shot season 5 that we kind of worked out exactly, ‘Okay, this is going to be the end afterwards.’”
Cobra Kai’s Final Season Was Always in Its Creators’ Minds
Just as Erik Kripke has recently discussed why he believes it was right to bring The Boys to a close after its next season as it completes his five-season plan, Cobra Kai’s creative team always had their “finish line” in sight from day one. Hurwitz elaborated:
“It was hugely important to us from the beginning [to have a finish line]. It’s weird, we entered this series partly naively, partly wishful thinking and confidence in the story that we’re telling that, ‘Okay, where we’re ending the series, much of what’s happening in the final episode have elements of what we talked about before we started shooting season 1.’ So, we knew where we wanted the Johnny and Daniel relationship to be, and we knew some of the things that are happening in that final episode. A lot of things evolved along the way, but there was always sort of that North Star, and we were determined to will as many seasons as possible.”
One thing that almost cut the series short, was when their place on YouTube suddenly vanished and the series was without a home, or a future. Thankfully, Netflix came in and saved the day, but as Hurwitz continued to recall, making the show became about trying to will additional seasons into being so they could bring it to the right conclusion.
“Dating back to the YouTube days, we felt really confident that we would crush it the first season, and that we’d be able to keep making more. The big twist for us was that YouTube stopped being a thing. [Laughs] So, at that point, it was like, ‘Okay, we got to do everything we can.’ I remember when making the third season, for example, we were like, ‘How do we make this season have so much spectacular stuff and have so many elements that are making you want more?’ So that, in a scenario — which is what happened — which was YouTube was going to end, so that they can be shopping it around, and then there’s enough juice to make it appealing to other places. Hopefully, Netflix, and here we are.”
Cobra Kai’s final season is divided into three parts, with the first five episodes premiering on July 18, the next five on November 28, and the final set scheduled for release in 2025. While the possibility of spinoffs is still on the cards, concluding Cobra Kai with Season 6 seems right, given that by the end of the show’s fifth season, many of its long-running character conflicts had been resolved.
