Posted in: Netflix, Preview, streaming, TNT, TV, YouTube | Tagged: cobra kai, daniel russo, hayden schlossberg, Johnny Lawrence, Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, karate kid, kreese, netflix, preview, Ralph Macchio, season 3, william zabka

Cobra Kai EPs Discuss Bringing More Familiar Faces Onto Netflix Series

For a while there, it was understandable that fans of co-creators and executive producers Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg's Cobra Kai were feeling that they may have seen the last of the Karate Kid sequel series. Then came word that Netflix had nabbed the rights to a third and possibly future seasons/spinoff projects, and everyone got to breathe a sigh of relief- especially Hurwitz, Heald, and Schlossberg.

By the time the credits rolled on the previous season, Ralph Macchio's Daniel was packing his bags and heading to Okinawa, Japan, to find a bit of that "Miyagi mojo" as well as learn the origins of both Miyagi-Do Karate and Cobra Kai. Then there was the matter of whether Karate Kid actress Elizabeth Shue (The Boys) would (finally) make an appearance, how Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) will end up after his accident in the finale, and if Johnny (William Zabka) can get his dojo back from his father (Martin Kove)- and his mysterious backer and true owner of Cobra Kai, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith in The Karate Kid Part III).

Which begs the question: will we be saying even ore familiar faces as the series moves forward in more stable streaming waters? Hurwitz revealed to CBR that all of the film trilogy's characters are potentially in play: "We love The Karate Kid trilogy and anyone who has seen Seasons 1 and 2 has seen us make references to all three of the original Karate Kid films. And we also say that it's our belief that anything that has happened in a movie Mr. Miyagi was in, which includes The Next Karate Kid, is part of the Miyagi-Verse and our series takes place in the Miyagi-Verse."

Hurwitz continued, "Any character who has lived within this Miyagi-Verse has potential to show up at some point on Cobra Kai and I can say that the three of us, as writers, have literally discussed pretty much every person who has appeared in those films, from these large characters you're talking about, like the Terry Silvers of the world, to the most minor characters who had one or two lines."

That said, as fun as it is to bring these characters back for the fans it's important that the characters they use bring something meaningful to the series' overall narrative: "We view that as all characters who live in our universe and, at any moment in time, have the potential to show up as long as they're relevant to the present-day story that we're telling and don't feel like they're thrown in there for cameo purposes or for simply for nostalgia's sake," Hurwitz explained. "There needs to be a real, dramatic reason [in] present-day why any of these characters would be relevant to our story. I can say that, going forward, we should expect more characters from The Karate Kid films to return but I can't say who or when or pretty much anything beyond that."

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