Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: cobra kai, hayden schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, Obliterated

Cobra Kai Showrunners on Series Returns, Spinoffs, "Obliterated," More

Cobra Kai showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald & Hayden Schlossberg spoke with us about finale surprises, spinoffs, "Obliterated," and more.

Cobra Kai showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg have earned their well-deserved bows and praise for producing arguably the greatest streaming TV series ever, wrapping after six seasons on Netflix. As definitively as they wrapped each story and tied as many loose ends as possible, there's always what could have been from: "Was it always Kwon who was to die at the Sekai Taikai" at the end of season six, part two? There are also the seeds of spinoffs to expand the Miyagi-verse with the expected pairings, where does Chozen Toguchi's (Yuji Okumoto) heart lie, which journey did the three struggle with the most, and who among the original Karate Kid films would join the Cobra Kai cast as part of that final bow. The trio spoke to Bleeding Cool about season six, part three's biggest surprises, and the grand plans they had for their other Netflix series, Obliterated, had it been granted a second season. The following contains major spoilers.

Cobra Kai Showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg on Kwon, Spinoffs, Chozen, and More

Bleeding Cool: At the end of season six, part two, when you guys decide to kill Kwon, were there other names floating around as far as being alternates, and were any of the protagonists ever on the table for deaths in general?

Hurwitz: It was always Kwon at the end of 610 ('Eunjangdo') because of the repercussions of what that means for the story, all our characters, (especially) Kreese in a major way. That was the biggest reason for Kwan, and we purposefully set him up in those first five episodes as the guy you think is the big bad towards the end. We wanted there to be a twist in that as well, so it was always Kwan. There was never a time we discussed it being one of the other characters. In terms of the main characters, especially the main kids, there was never a moment where we ever considered killing any of them in any actual way.

With the finale, there are seeds of other spinoffs where you can go with "Binary Bros," "Tory and Robby," "Sam and Miguel," or even maybe like a Cobra Kai 3.0 where you have Chozen and Kim Da-Eun and Johnny Lawrence teaching the next class. What ideas have you floated around as your next 'Cobra Kai' spinoff and Miyagi-verse project? Would it exclusively be another live-action TV series or perhaps a standalone streamer feature on Netflix? Would an animated project be on the table as well?

Heald: Anything is possible. We can't officially talk about any given project until such time when it makes sense with our partners to talk. The way our minds work, anything from an animated television project, a feature-length movie, or another streaming series to a period piece, is all on the table.

Of all the characters' journeys, which was the most difficult to navigate?

Schlossberg: I would say Johnny and Daniel and their rivalry and relationship over the six seasons because we never wanted to repeat ourselves. We made sure every season there was a new evolution in their relationship. We wanted the characters to grow, but not so much that they ever lose the essence of what we love about them originally. At the end of the series, Daniel is still very Miyagi-Do, and Johnny is very Cobra Kai, but they've learned a lot about the other side.

They're far more tolerant of each other and able to work together while being true to themselves. That's been the trickiest journey because we want to make sure things don't get repetitive. We made sure each season built off the previous season in terms of where they were at all leading up to the final scene where they're friends but still have some issues that will never quite be resolved.

You brought back Randee [Heller] and Ron [Thomas] for the final episodes. Did you consider also having Elizabeth [Shue], Tamlyn [Tomita], or Robin [Lively] back?

Hurwitz: The characters that appeared are the ones we were focused on. There was a debate on Tamlyn, and the bigger question was, "Where does Chozen's heart lie?" by the end of the series. That was discussed over a long period, even while we were in production in the earlier parts of the season, because first, we love Tamlyn, and we love Kumiko. We love the scene where Chozen left the voicemail at the end of season five.

Our hearts were in that direction initially, and that was something as the writing was happening and as the performing was happening, like the stuff in 608 ('Snakes on a Plane') that happens with Chozen and Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), there was a big split in the writers' room with everybody being happy with either way, but feeling like leaning like a little bit this way or that way. When it all was said and done, and talking it through with ourselves, the actors, and the group, it felt like we landed in the right direction, so Tamlyn did not end up returning.

Of the entire series, what was the biggest surprise execution you were able to pull off that maybe you guys doubted would work but ended up working in the end?

Heald: We'll wait for the audience's reaction to it, but I would say the "explosiveness" that happens in episode 14 ('Strike Last') aboard a certain yacht was something we hit early and often in our pitches to the studio network. They regard it as a little bit with a bit of tongue-in-cheek attitude that we were trying to steer things in that direction. We know how far we've pushed the envelope, having already figured out how to pull off that brawl in episode ten, which was by far the biggest undertaking we had done before that, and with a series of huge undertakings in its wake, ranging from the school fight ('Mercy') to a fight to the death over a pit of snakes ('December 19').

All these things were done practically with little greenscreen and CGI on the show getting to get out on open water, shoot stunts, put drones in the sky, and do everything that felt cinematically worthy of that final confrontation was something that pushed this production to the breaking point, but we were able to get through it.

If you had another shot at doing another season of 'Obliterated,' what you guys would have done?

Schlossberg: We had plans every season to take this crew of characters and put them in a different party city. For our second season, we liked the idea of bringing them to Miami, whereas the first season we were in Vegas for the desert. We loved the idea of this party city of Miami with the ocean and the water there, and the idea of some action-set pieces that involved water boats.

We got some of those desires out in 'Cobra Kai,' but also planes and things like 'Air Force One,' movies we grew up loving we wanted to put our group of characters in. We still are huge fans, and we believe that cult fan bases accrue over the years; that's a show that didn't have the advantage 'Cobra Kai' had in terms of having this established franchise and a built-in fan base, but it was one of Netflix's most viewed shows when it came out. There's already a huge fan base for it, and we're all about fanning the flame because we would love to return to that world and those characters in whatever iteration possible.

All six seasons of Cobra Kai and Obliterated are available to stream on Netflix.

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