The third season of Cobra Kai has now been gone four days. How many times have you seen the whole thing? Six? Seven? We’re kidding, of course, but you’d better finish it if you want to read what’s below. io9 did a Zoom chat with creators and executive producers of the Karate child show, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald, and we talked about all the things you’re curious about once season three is over.
That said, if you’re not done yet Cobra Kai season 3 (or, God forbid, watched something of it) go do that now. Once you’ve done that, continue below as we’ll get to the bottom of those burning questions.
Germain Lussier, io9: What were the big things you wanted to achieve in Season 3?
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Jon Hurwitz: We wanted to get Ali back. We wanted to go into Kreese’s past and do a whole storyline in Vietnam. We wanted to go to Okinawa. Those were three elements of the big tent pole season we talked about. Our hope was also to get Johnny and Daniel together by the end and tease the audience along the way.
io9: When you teased Ali’s return at the end of Season 2 was Elizabeth Shue already signed up and did you know what you would do with her if she did?
Josh heard: She was not signed in when we did that. That was an example of our leadership with our confidence and belief that the Karate child gods will smile at us and make it happen. But we’ve been actively speaking with Elizabeth before, trying to share the love for what this show is, where we come from as fans who become the stewards of The karate kid and want to bring out that character in this universe and find the right way to do it.
But at that point, there was literally no knowledge or path to whether it was going to happen or to the south. And we said, “You know what? That’s still how we end the season. We will always have to be optimists about this.” And it was just very special. A special process and a special return for Ali to the universe of the show and really on our set. I mean, when Elizabeth Shue walked there, it felt like, “Here’s this missing piece of the puzzle that might make Johnny and Daniel fit together a little better.” And there were real goosebumps and real smiles plastered on our faces. I’m sure the behind-the-scenes photos show the three of us on a monitor smiling from ear to ear and watching them perform together again. The series just wouldn’t be complete without also telling Ali’s story.
io9: Tell me about how you developed the role a trip to Okinawa would play on the show
Hurwitz: We are always looking for a surprising way to bring back characters. And we felt it would be interesting to have Daniel on that side of the world for a different reason and for him to be at a relative low point where he is a little lost and feels that Okinawa’s appeal is too strong not to get. that extra little journey to return to Miyagi’s homeland, which was a special place in his past, the birth of his karate and the birthplace of his mentor. To get him there in that context where he’s just a little bit lost and searching and then finds what he’s looking for, but in unexpected ways.
And we knew we wanted Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) to be involved in a way that makes sense, that ties into the past relationship and past actions. And that there would be some wisdom to give to Daniel. To bring Mr. Miyagi back into the story in a different way than ever before. And for us, that letter reading scene is one of our favorite scenes we’ve ever done on the show. It was such a powerful, powerful moment.
Then to bring back Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) … Together we came up with the story that we thought allowed these characters and these actors to star, but also that Daniel learned new layers from Mr. Miyagi and new layers of karate. To do those kinds of scenes that you knew fans would go crazy, but that were meaningful to our current story.
io9: How did you come up with the Kreese backstory and was Martin Kove involved?
Hayden Schlossberg: We had already thought about it at the start of season two and we plan to delve into it. And when we talked to Marty … about the character and his backstory, he planned this whole backstory that was different on the surface, but very similar at its core in terms of Vietnam’s trauma and being a prisoner of war. So we were always our ideas. What we wanted was to understand how this man we grew up with as the most evil character of all time could ever have been a human you might feel bad about …[Also] we wanted him to be in the heart of darkness and really learn “No mercy” as a must in life. And the way to do that is by showing mercy, and it really isn’t working for you.
io9: Was it actually Terry Silver on the phone at the end of the show and his return would also include the return of Mpower Barnes?
Schlossberg: Listen, we are hardcore fans of all movies. And let’s put it this way. We spend time providing a backstory to Terry Silver in Season Three. You get to see the past Terry Silver. We treat all these characters from those original movies as if they are really important in the universe. And we don’t want to say anything official about season four at this point, but Kreese looks at a picture of young Terry Silver and he dials a number and calls. And you can imagine who is on the other side. So we’re not making any official statements, but hypothetically there is still a lot of interesting soap opera to tell that we can’t wait to tell.
io9: Can you say anything about Season 4 at all? Looks like we’re getting at least another All-Valley Karate tournament.
Schlossberg: We can say that about season four. The stakes have never been higher in the All-Valley.
Cobra Kai seasons 1-3 are now on Netflix. Season 4 is in the works.
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