Netflix gave Cobra Kai fans an extra gift this holiday season, when the launch of their season 3 premiere, from January 8 to New Year’s Day, was brought forward.
And again, the karate Kid The spinoff, which ended season 2 on a devastating precipice, is paying off, earning huge applause from fans and critics, not to mention mega streams for Netflix. The fun and addictive program, which rekindles the rivalry between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and a redeemed Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), while presenting a new generation of teen fighters, continues to prove to be one of the greatest bad luck stories of television of the past decade.
In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Macchio, 59, reflects on his original expectations when re-entering the karate Kid-verse when Cobra Kai launched on YouTube Red in 2018.
“It exceeded my expectations,” he says (see above). “Not that I didn’t think we were doing something great that connected with the original story, the nostalgia for karate Kid universe and honor it and never lose sight of it. But to boost to this level on YouTube, get out that way …
“Low expectations have helped us, I think. The press and media said, ‘OK, they are doing it is now. Of course, nobody has original ideas, why not do that? ‘So that was good for us. “
Zabka, 55, however, has clarified a misunderstanding that has loomed over the series since the premiere of Season 2. It involves the death of actor Rob Garrison, who reprized his role as one of Johnny’s old Cobra Kai friends, Tommy Sheridan (owner of one of the most famous exclamations in the original film, “Take a bag for him. Yes!”) In the sixth episode, “Take a Right.” After a motorcycle and camping encounter with Johnny, Bobby (Ron Thomas) and Jimmy (Tony O’Dell), the terminally ill Tommy is found dead and last seen being sealed in a corpse bag, of course, one of countless Program callbacks to their origins.
When Garrison himself died a few months after the season 2 premiere, fans speculated that he must also be sick in real life, and Cobra Kai was using the episode as a farewell for both the character and the actor. Zabka, however, says that was not the case.
“He wasn’t sick when we were shooting that episode,” says Zabka of Garrison. “He was a big fan of the first season. He was thrilled to be asked to come back and play Tommy in the condition Tommy was in, to put him in a corpse bag. I thought he might have a hard time with it, but he did it with all his heart and loved every second of it.
“He became ill later. In a way, it was a kind of serendipity. But he had a chance to put his last Tommy out there and lay Tommy out the way he would like as an artist. And he was beautiful in that, so it’s a tribute to him. “
Garrison died on September 27, 2019 at age 59, after being treated for kidney and liver problems. Cobra KaiThe premiere episode of the third season is dedicated to him.
Cobra Kai Seasons 1-3 are currently streaming on Netflix.
Watch the trailer for season 3:
– Video produced by Jen Kucsak and edited by John Santo
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