He third season of Cobra Kai it has now been out for four days. How many times have you seen all this? Six? Set? We’re kidding, of course, but you better finish it if you want to read what’s below. io9 made a chat with Zoom with creators and executive producers of the Karate Kid show, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, and we talked about everything you’re curious about once the third season is over.
That said, if you’re not done yet Cobra KaSeason 3 (or, God forbid, I looked at any of them) go do it now. If you have it, continue below as we get to the end of these hot questions.
Germain Lussier, io9: What were the big things you wanted to achieve during the third season?
G / O Media may receive a commission
Jon Hurwitz: We wanted to go back to Ali. We wanted to get into Kreese’s past and make a whole history of Vietnam. We wanted to go to Okinawa. These were the three big elements of the season we were talking about. Also, our hope was to reunite Johnny and Daniel at the end and provoke the audience along the way.
io9: When you caused Ali’s return at the end of the second season Elizabeth Shue already had the session started and did you know what you would do with her if she did?
Josh Heard: We didn’t sign in when we did this. This was an example of how we led with our confidence and our faith that the Karate Kid the gods will smile at us and make it a reality. But before that, we actively engaged in talking to Elizabeth, trying to share the love of what this show is, where we come from as fans who become the administrators of The Karate Kid and wanting to take this character forward into this universe and find the right way to do it.
But at that time, literally, there was no knowledge or way to know whether or not to go south. And we said, “You know what? We still end the season that way. We’ll always have to be optimistic about that. ”And it was very special. A special process and a special recovery for Ali in the show universe and really on our set. I mean, when Elizabeth Shue walked in, I went look like, “Here’s this missing piece of the puzzle that could help Johnny and Daniel fit in a little better.” And there were real goosebumps and real smiles on our faces. I’m sure in the back photos. of the scenes only the three of us are shown on a monitor smiling ear to ear watching them act together again.The series would not be complete without starting to tell Ali’s story as well.
io9: Tell me how you developed the role a trip to Okinawa would play the show
Hurwitz: We are always looking for an amazing way to recover characters. And we thought it would be interesting to have Daniel on that side of the world for another reason and to be at a relatively low point where he’s a little lost and finds that the Okinawa draw is too strong not to make that little extra trip. to return to Miyagi’s homeland, which was a special place in his past, the birth of his karate and the cradle of his mentor. To take him there in that context where he is lost and searching and then find what he is looking for, but in unexpected ways.
And we knew we wanted Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) to get involved in a meaningful way, to relate to the relationship of the past and the actions of the past. And so that there is some wisdom to be taught to Daniel. To return Mr. Miyagi to history in a different way than we had ever had before. And, for us, this letter reading scene is one of our favorite scenes we’ve ever done on the show. It was such a powerful and powerful moment.
Then, to get Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) back together … We worked out the story that we thought would allow these characters and actors to shine, but it also allowed Daniel to learn new layers of Mr. Miyagi and new layers of karate. Doing those kinds of scenes that you knew fans were going to go crazy about, but that were significant to our current story.
io9: How did the Kreese story come about and did Martin Kove participate?
Hayden Schlossberg: Entering the second season, we had already been thinking about it and plan to delve deeper into it. And when we talked to Marty … about the character and his background story, he had all this planned background story that was different on the surface, but at its core it was very similar in terms of the trauma of Vietnam and the to be a prisoner of war. So we were always our ideas. What we wanted was to understand how this guy we grew up with, as the most evil character of all time, could have been a human being once you could feel bad …[Also] we wanted him to be in the heart of the dark and to really learn “No Mercy” as a must-see in life. And the way to do that is to show pity and it doesn’t really come out to you.
io9: It was in fact Terry Silver on the phone at the end of the show and his return could also mark the return of Mpower BArnes?
Schlossberg: Listen, we’re fans of all the movies. And let’s put it this way. We spent time giving Terry Silver an old story in season three. You can see the past Terry Silver. We treat all these characters from these original films as if they were really important in the universe. And we still don’t want to say anything official about the fourth season, but Kreese looks at a photo of young Terry Silver and dials a number and makes a phone call. And you could imagine who is at the other end. So we don’t make official statements, but hypothetically, there’s a lot of interesting soap opera left to explain that we can’t wait to tell.
io9: Well, can anything be said about season 4? It looks like at least we’ll get at least another karate tournament across the valley.
Schlossberg: This we can say about the fourth season. Bets have never been higher in the All-Valley.
Cobra Kai seasons 1-3 are now on Netflix. Season 4 is in process.
For more information, be sure to follow us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.