The series was renewed for its sixth and final season in January.
As you may have heard, the writer’s strike has officially started in Hollywood after weeks of unfruitful negotiations. For a strike to take effect, however, it’s important that industry professionals voice their support so that everyone knows that the all the writers from every show and movie share the same concern. Today, the Cobra Kai team announced they were joining the strike and no additional words will be written on Season 6 until an agreement has been reached.
The pause in activities was announced by showrunner Jon Hurwitz, who has been with the show from the very start when the series debuted as a YouTube original before moving on to Netflix. Hurwitz took to Twitter to inform readers and fans of the show that Season 6 production is officially halted and that, from today on, no writers will be present on the Cobra Kai set. He shared a picture which highlights the team effort necessary to bring a show as consistent as Cobra Kai together: The Season 6 writers’ room features 14 screenwriters.
The Cobra Kai Team Fully Supports the Writers’ Strike
In his social media post, Hurwitz declared full support for his fellow writers on this show and other ones, and played a little with the Cobra Kai mantra “strike first, strike hard” to announce they were adhering. He wrote:
“We hate to strike, but if we must, we strike hard. Pencils down in the Cobra Kai writers room. No writers on set. These aren’t fun times, but it’s unfortunately necessary. The moment a fair deal is in place, we’ll get back to kicking ass. In the meantime, sending strength and support to the negotiating committee. You got this. #WGA #WGAStrong #writersstrike”
The nationwide strike represents the first time that writers decided to cross their arms since 2007. For the past four to six weeks, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) tried negotiating with Hollywood studios in order to provide writers with better pay, improved working conditions, steadier income and protection against the use of AI tools. However, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMTPT) deemed some WGA demands non-negotiable, which prompted writers to announce they were going on strike.
Cobra Kai’s Season 6 is set to be the final batch of episodes on the show that follows up to the events of classic martial arts film The Karate Kid, with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprising their iconic roles as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. After the series moved from YouTube to Netflix, it proved extremely popular among subscribers, which prompted the streamer to keep it going for several years. Even though Hurwitz and fellow showrunners Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg told Collider they already had material for Season 6 as soon as Season 5 wrapped, the final run was only formally announced back in January, meaning that it was probably around the time that writers cracked their knuckles and started actually working on episodes and season arcs.
Depending on how long the writer’s strike lasts, it’s likely that the premiere of Cobra Kai Season 6 will get delayed. Stick to Collider to find out all developments of the strike as they are announced. Check out Jon Hurwitz’s Twitter post below:
We hate to strike, but if we must, we strike hard. Pencils down in the Cobra Kai writers room. No writers on set. These aren't fun times, but it's unfortunately necessary. The moment a fair deal is in place, we'll get back to kicking ass. In the meantime, sending strength and… https://t.co/99UulF7HeW
— Jon Hurwitz (@jonhurwitz) May 2, 2023
