O third season of Cobra Kai it’s been out for four days. How many times have you watched the whole thing? Six? Seven? We’re kidding, of course, but you’d better be done if you want to read what’s below. io9 made a chat Zoom with breeders and executive producers from karate Kid show, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, and we talk about everything you’re curious about when the third season is over.
That said, if you haven’t finished Cobra Kain season 3 (or, God forbid, watched anything) go do it now. If so, continue below to get to the bottom of these burning questions.
Germain Lussier, io9: What were the big things you wanted to achieve in season three?
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Jon Hurwitz: We wanted to bring Ali back. We wanted to go into Kreese’s past and make a whole history of Vietnam. We wanted to go to Okinawa. Those were three big elements of the season that we talked about. Furthermore, our hope was to bring Johnny and Daniel together at the end and tease the audience along the way.
io9: When you caused Ali’s return at the end of season 2 Elizabeth Shue was already registered and did you know what you were going to do with her if she did?
Josh Heard: It was not signed when we did this. This was an example of how we lead with our confidence and faith that the karate Kid gods will smile at us and make it happen. But we were actively engaged in talking to Elizabeth before that, trying to share the love for what this show is, where we come from as fans who become managers of The Karate Kid and wanting to take that character forward in this universe and find the right way to do that.
But, at that time, there was literally no knowledge or way to know whether this would happen or go south. And we said, “You know what? We’re still ending the season that way. We will always have to be optimistic about it ”. And it was very special. A special process and a special rearrangement for Ali in the universe of the show and really on our set. I mean, when Elizabeth Shue went over there, it looked like, “Here’s the missing piece in the puzzle that can help Johnny and Daniel fit in a little better.” And there were real chills 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 watching them act together again. The series simply wouldn’t be complete without starting to tell Ali’s story as well.
io9: Tell me about how you developed the role a trip to okinawa would play on the show
Hurwitz: We are always looking for an amazing way to bring the characters back. And we felt it would be interesting to have Daniel on that side of the world for another reason and for him to be at a relatively low point where he is a little lost and thinks that Okinawa’s tie is too strong for him not to make that little extra trip to return to Miyagi’s birthplace, which was a special place in his past, the birth of his karate and the birthplace of his mentor. Bring him to that context where he is kind of lost and looking and then find what he is looking for, but in unexpected ways.
And we knew that we wanted Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) to be involved in a meaningful way, to be linked to the relationship of the past and the actions of the past. And to have some wisdom to pass on to Daniel. To bring Mr. Miyagi back to history in a different way than we’ve done before. And for us, that card reading scene is one of our favorite scenes that we did on the show. It was a very powerful moment.
So, to bring Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) back … Together, we created the story that we thought allowed these characters and actors to shine, but also allowed Daniel to learn new layers of Mr. Miyagi and new layers of karate. To do those kinds of scenes that you knew fans would go crazy about, but were significant to our current story.
io9: How did you discover the story of Kreese and Martin Kove was involved?
Hayden Schlossberg: Going into the second season, we were already thinking about it and we plan to dig deeper. And when we talked to Marty … about the character and his backstory, he had this whole backstory planned that was different on the surface, but at the bottom it was very similar in terms of trauma from Vietnam and being a prisoner of war. So, these have always been our ideas. What we wanted to do was understand how this guy we grew up with as the most evil character of all time could have been a human being that you would feel bad about ….[Also] we wanted him to be in the heart of darkness and really learn “without mercy” as an obligation in life. And the way to do that is to show mercy, and it doesn’t really work for you.
io9: It was indeed Terry Silver on the phone at the end of the show and could his return also mark M’s returnike BArnes?
Schlossberg: Listen, we are hardcore fans of all films. And let’s just put it this way. We spent time telling Terry Silver a story behind the third season. You can see Terry Silver’s past. We treat all these characters from these original films as if they are really important in the universe. And we don’t want to say anything official about the fourth season right now, but Kreese looks at a picture of young Terry Silver, dials a number and makes a call. And you can imagine who is on the other side. So we are not making official statements, but, hypothetically, there are many interesting novels to tell that we can’t wait to tell.
io9: Well, can you say anything about season 4? It sure looks like at least we’re going to have another All-Valley Karate tournament.
Schlossberg: That we can say about the fourth season. The stakes have never been higher in All-Valley.
Cobra Kai seasons 1-3 are now on Netflix. The 4th season is in progress.
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