The third season of Cobra Kai is out four days now. How many times have you watched the whole thing? Six? Seven? We’re kidding, of course, but you better have to complete it if you want to read what’s below. io9 had a Zoom chat with creators and executive manufacturers of the Karate kind show, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, and we talked about everything you’re curious about once season three is over.
That said, if you are not done yet Kobra KaI season 3 (or, God forbid, watched any of it) go do it now. If you have it, then move on as we get to the end of the burning questions.
Germain Lussier, io9: What were the biggest things you wanted to hit in the third season?
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Jon Hurwitz: We wanted to bring Ali back. We wanted to go into Kreese’s past and do a whole Vietnam storyline. We wanted to go to Okinawa. These were three great elements of the tent pole of the season we talked about. Our hope was also to bring Johnny and Daniel together towards 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 logged in and did you know what you would do with her if she did?
Josh Heard: There was no reporting to her when we did. It was an example of our leadership with our confidence and our faith that the Karate kind gods will smile for us and make it happen. But we were already talking to Elizabeth before that time, trying to share the love of what this show is, where we come from as fans who are the stewards of The Karate Kid and to want to bring that character to this universe and find the right way to do it.
But at that time there was literally no knowledge or a way to determine whether it would go or not south. And we said, ‘You know what? We still end the season like this. We will always have to be optimistic about this. “And it was just very special. A special process and a special revival for Ali in the universe of the show and really on our set. I mean, when Elizabeth walked in there, it felt like, “Here’s this missing piece of the puzzle that could help Johnny and Daniel get along a little better.” And there was real chicken meat and real smiles plastered on our faces. I’m sure in the photos behind the scenes we can see the three of us on a monitor smiling over and over how they are performing together again. The series just 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 on the program
Hurwitz: We are always looking for a surprising way to bring characters back. And we felt that it would be interesting to have Daniel on that side of the world for another reason and that he would be at a relative low point where he was kind of lost and that the Okinawa draw would be too strong not to make that extra small outing to return to the homeland of Miyagi, which was a special place in his past, the birth of his karate and the birthplace of his mentor. To bring him there in the context where he is just lost and searching and then find what he is looking for, but in unexpected ways.
And we knew we wanted Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) to be involved in a meaningful way, joining the relationship from the past and the deeds from the past. And to give Daniel wisdom. About mr. Bringing Miyagi back into the story in a different way than we ever had before. And for us, the letter reading scene is one of our favorite scenes we’ve ever done in the program. It was such a powerful, powerful moment.
To bring Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) back …. We compiled the story that we thought these characters and these actors could shine, but also that Daniel new layers of mr. Miyagi and new low karate could learn. To do those kinds of scenes that you know fans are planning for, but that have meaning for our contemporary story.
io9: How did you find the Kreese story and was Martin Kove involved?
Hayden Schlossberg: In the second season, we already thought about it and planned to deepen it. And when we talked to Marty … about the character and his backstory, he had this whole backstory planned that was different at first glance, but at its core it was very similar to the trauma of Vietnam and being a prisoner of war to be. So these were always our ideas. What we wanted was to understand how this man with whom we grew up as the worst character of all time, could be a human being once for whom you would feel bad.[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 to show mercy, and it really does not work for you.
io9: Was it Terry Silver at the end of the show telephonically and could his return also be the return of Mas Barnes?
Schlossberg: Listen, we’re hardcore fans of all the movies. And let’s put it this way. We spend time giving Terry Silver a comeback in season three. You can 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 still do not want to say anything official about season four, but Kreese looks at a photo of the young Terry Silver and he dials a number and calls. And you can imagine who is on the other side. So we do not make any official statements, but hypothetically there are still a lot of interesting soap operas left to tell that we can not wait to tell.
io9: Can you say anything at all about season 4? Looks like we’ll at least get another All-Valley Karate Tournament.
Schlossberg: That can tell us about season four. The game has never been higher at the All-Valley.
Cobra Kai seasons 1-3 are now on Netflix. Season 4 is underway.
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