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Cobra Kai: Johnny Views "The Karate Kid" A Bit Differently, Daniel

In an earlier post, we mentioned how Cobra Kai executive producers Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg were having a pretty good run of things lately- kicking off in a big way with the Karate Kid spinoff series making its official debut on Netflix (landing at the top of their charts faster than a Bruce Lee kick). , with the series quickly shooting to the top spot of most watched on the streaming service (blowing past The Umbrella Academy and Lucifer). But it wasn't all about the past, as Cobra Kai fans were also treated to a teaser for the 2021-premiering third season, one that finds Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) on the receiving end of a sweet move executed by someone who might just be a familiar face from the film franchise- someone who knows some of Mr. Miyagi's secrets.

Cobra Kai: Johnny Views How "The Karate Kid" Went Down a Bit Different (Image: screencap)
Cobra Kai: Johnny Views How "The Karate Kid" Went Down a Bit Different (Image: screencap)

You may have noticed that "2021" thing I mentioned earlier? While the series is returning, viewers won't be seeing new action until next year (our guess is February). To help kill the time, Netflix is rolling out compilation videos and mini-clips highlighting the best of the first two seasons. Which brings us to the following: a look back at the famous "beach stand-off" scene between Daniel and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) in the original The Karate Kid film. You remember, the scene where Daniel looks to defend Ali (Elisabeth Shue) from Johnny and ends up eating sand for it? Well, let's just say that a story's perspective lies with the storyteller, so Johnny sees how all of that went down a bit differently:

In a recent interview, Hurwitz revealed 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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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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