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Cobra Kai Creators on Nariyoshi Miyagi/Mr. Miyagi Spinoff Possibility

Cobra Kai creators discuss the possibility and what it would take for a prequel series focusing on Nariyoshi Miyagi's (Mr. Miyagi) backstory.

It's hard to top the legacy that Pat Morita built as Nariyoahi Miyagi in The Karate Kid franchise, which is why Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, built the series around his prized pupil, Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio in the Netflix legacy series. The series expands beyond the one teacher-student singular dynamic but combines the older and newer generations beyond anything the franchise imagined. It even escapes the linear villain narratives atypical of the genre, humanizing every character starting with William Zabka's Johnny Lawrence, who found purpose teaching martial arts, resurrecting his former dojo, and becoming a surrogate father to his prized student Miguel (Xolo Maridueña). We also get layered exposition for Martin Kove's John Kreese and Thomas Ian Griffith's Terry Silver, including flashbacks to their days serving during the Vietnam War. Since we heard how the two founders of Cobra Kai found each other and started the dojo, why not a prequel of Nariyoshi fine-tuning the ways of Miyagi-Do?

Cobra Kai: Josh Heald on Possibility of a Mr. Miyagi Prequel Spinoff

One recurring narrative with Cobra Kai is how Daniel finds out more about his former sensei he affectionately calls "Mr. Miyagi," from his life to the secrets of his karate he kept from his student, uncovered by his former rival, Chozen Toguchi, played by Yuji Okumoto, reprising his role from The Karate Kid Part II (1986). On physically exploring Miyagi's past instead of Daniel providing the narrative, "We discussed it. I don't think we would ever recast Miyagi if we are looking at the Pat Morita-aged Miyagi," Heald said. "You know, our minds, they run wild. We like to think about who Mr. Miyagi was a hundred years ago. Everybody knows the story that Miyagi tells in 'The Karate Kid: Part II, about his coming of age and Sato. So it's not outside the realm (of) possibility that we would want to perhaps explore different eras of Mr. Miyagi at some point in this franchise, with a different performer."

As far as where in the narrative they could go, one possibility was following Miyagi's life until the events of the 1984 film when he and Daniel meet. "I think we personally bump on the idea of going back to a timeline that overlaps with when Daniel knew Miyagi and do that with anybody other than Pat," Heald explained. "We've been very careful in the series so far to use the footage and to shoot – there was a scene where I shot Miyagi from behind when he first built the backyard. But to turn around and (show) the face, it has to either be a different era, or it would have to be Pat. It would have to look like Pat. It would have to sound like Pat. It would be a bump, I think, for people to say, 'Okay, this is 1986, and it's not quite what I remember.'"

Cobra Kai cast different actors as the Vietnam War-era Kreese and Silver, and used archived footage from The Karate Kid films to represent Morita and what his life was like before Daniel wasn't explored on screen. "There is a challenge with that because where we saw Miyagi and Daniel in the original 'Karate Kid,'" Macchio told Bleeding Cool in 2022. "So before that, obviously, Daniel wasn't in his life. I'm not saying there isn't a great movie or show that is about young Miyagi. I would love to see that someday. As far as scenes that we haven't seen, I think we did. We used a clip or two, but I think those were in the third picture that we used in season four. Actually, the scene I have with Billy [Zabka] about finding your own way and stuff like that." For more, you can check out the complete Cinemablend interview here. Season six, part one of Cobra Kai, is available to stream on Netflix. Check out our interview with the showrunners here.

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