When I first watched Cobra Kai, I stopped it five minutes in. This is a true story. I started the first episode and was so absolutely blown away by what I was seeing, I almost didn’t believe it was real. Since I was about five years old, I’d been a massive fan of The Karate Kid franchise, and here I was in my 30s watching the same actors from those movies tell this dynamic, awesome, follow-up story. There was no way this show was this good. It was impossible.
So, I stopped the episode and asked my wife to watch it just to make sure I wasn’t going mad. To make sure I wasn’t only watching through nostalgia-colored glasses. Because, to me, this show was something miraculous. Something I’d never seen before. A sequel that felt almost birthed from my very own dreams. I never got to see Luke, Leia, and Han hang out after their original movies, but I was somehow watching Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence face off again.
My wife did end up watching the episode and, amazingly, agreed with me. Cobra Kai was that good and ever since then, with the debut of each new episode, I’ve found myself humbled and grateful that this show exists. Not only has it been incredibly fun and rewarding to watch, but it’s proof that fandom, when handled right, can be an asset in Hollywood instead of a liability. On February 13, though, that all comes to an end.
Next week, after almost seven years and 65 episodes, Cobra Kai concludes with the final five episodes of its sixth and final season. That longevity alone is amazing, especially when you consider how often streaming shows get canceled and that this one began on the now-defunct YouTube Red before Netflix took over three seasons in. Plus, it’s not like The Karate Kid franchise, a series that spanned four movies from 1984-1994, was super popular in the years that followed. Even its star wanted nothing to do with it. “Probably right after I finished My Cousin Vinny, I would get those questions in the press,” the Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio, told io9 this week “‘So if they ever did another Karate Kid… ?’ and I’d be like, just ‘No way! That’s just not happening.’ And certainly, when Pat Morita passed on, I thought for sure [it was over] because that was always where the soulful magic was born. How do you go back to that?”
And still, Hollywood tried. It remade The Karate Kid in 2010 with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith; it was a hit, but at the time, it didn’t cross over with the original films. Basically, when Cobra Kai came to YouTube Red in 2018 (before moving to Netflix in 2021) most people hadn’t thought of The Karate Kid in at least a decade. Most people, however, aren’t me.
I grew up with the first three Karate Kid films and always loved them unconditionally. As a kid, I bought toys, clothes, reenacted scenes, and did everything short of actually going to karate lessons—though that certainly crossed my mind. Even as an adult, the franchise still resonated with me evidenced by the almost $500 original piece of Karate Kid art I bought way back in 2011. The story of hard work, heroism, and mentorship has always been a part of me.
That’s a passion I share with the creators of Cobra Kai, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald. The three friends have been Karate Kid superfans forever and somehow, over the course of the show, managed to tell an entertaining, emotional, dynamic story while keeping the 1980s teen movie tone from the original movies and also being methodical with their use of reference and nostalgia.
“John, Josh, and Hayden are just the right guys to do this,” Macchio told me back when the show debuted. “The Karate Kid was Star Wars to them. They know more about the Karate Kid films and, certainly the original film, than I know. It’s unbelievable. They are the ultimate Karate Kid fans on the planet. They had the idea to write and create what they believe the fans would want to see.”
“For the record, [The Karate Kid] is our favorite movie, collectively and individually,” Heald added back in 2018. “We knew that if we had an opportunity to tell this story it would be in the tone that would appeal to those hardcore Karate Kid fans, but also make it accessible to someone who’s never really seen the movie.”
That balance is why, to me, Cobra Kai has become more than a show. It’s a revelation. A 40-or-so-hour sequel to a popular movie franchise in which every nook and cranny of the mythology has been explored. In which almost every possible character was revisited. And, most importantly, one that introduces a dynamic and lovable generation of new characters that inject new life into the world. You’ve seen movie sequels before. You’ve even seen some great ones. But how many have been this thorough, filled with passion, and experienced this longevity? Basically none.
“I think that the stars aligned in a lot of ways,” Schlossberg told io9 recently. “We’re just really appreciative and thankful that things worked out in the best possible way.”
These days, so many movies—especially from the eras of the 1980s and 1990s—get sequels. Many of them also follow the formula of bringing back the old cast alongside a new, younger cast (see also Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Scream). And while some of those have been good, most of the time they’re just fine. Not “bad”—though sometimes they’re bad—but very rarely even close to as good as the original. Cobra Kai is so big and bold that it’s not just as good as the originals, it transcends them.
Which is why I feel that, in the end, Cobra Kai should be part of the conversation about some of the best sequels ever. Sure, it has the benefit of being much longer than a movie, and no, not every episode was crane-kick perfect. But as a whole, the show elevated beyond its original iterations in the same way the best movie sequels ever—movies like Terminator 2, Aliens, The Godfather Part II, and The Empire Strikes Back—did. Which is something that only gets deeper in the final episodes.
As a fan, I’m still reeling at some of the things I saw on the show. I saw Johnny Lawrence becoming a Mr. Miyagi-style mentor and bringing back Cobra Kai. I saw Terry Silver return to wreak havoc in the karate world. I saw two young high school kids go on a date to Golf N’ Stuff again. I saw Daniel and Johnny once again fawning over Ali Mills. There were multiple new All Valley Tournaments. I saw the “Get him a body bag” guy actually get taken out in a body bag. And again, no spoilers, but the final five episodes have even more of these all-time moments. “You go back to the same feelings that you had in 1984,” Macchio said of the final episodes. “It’s pretty well done. I’m pretty proud to be part of it.”
Some may call six seasons of Teenage Karate Wars based on a film series with diminishing returns overkill. That’s certainly a valid point of view. But Cobra Kai has also been an almost perfectly executed geek fantasy. A story with everything you could’ve ever wanted, and plenty of things you never knew you needed. Basically, whether you were a Karate Kid fan before the show—or became one after—Cobra Kai was a dream come true. A dream that made me me jump off my couch in delight, cry tears of joy, and appreciate that fandom, when used in the right way, can truly create magic. Because that’s what superfans Hurwitz, Schlossberg, and Heald found with Cobra Kai. They found magic and made a monument to the grand potential and possibility of what a sequel could be. And that greatness is actually possible. I made my wife watch it to be sure.
Cobra Kai is currently streaming on Netflix. Its final episodes debut on February 13.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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