It seems like it was just yesterday we watched as the credits rolled on the Cobra Kai Season 4 finale, but the popular and incredibly binge-worthy Netflix series is already preparing for its return. That’s right, in no time at all, we will be continuing the next chapter in the franchise’s expansive universe… the Miyagi-verse, if you will. But before we get too ahead of ourselves, there are few things fans of the show will probably want to know..
Below is a breakdown of everything we know about Cobra Kai Season 5 including its release date, which iconic Karate Kid villains will be around, where the show is headed, and other details that will surely make you even more excited for the show’s return.
Oh, there are spoilers ahead, so make sure you're all caught up on Cobra Kai through Season 4 before moving ahead.
Cobra Kai Season 5 Premieres September 9, 2022
Cobra Kai, its heroes, and villains will all return for another round of action when the show’s fifth season premieres September 9, 2022 on Netflix. This means the show will return less than nine months after Season 4 debuted on the popular streaming service this past New Year’s Eve. Fans of the show eager to see how things will shake out for everyone don’t have that much time to wait.
Ralph Macchio And William Zabka Will Be Back To Lead Cobra Kai Season 5
Before even a moment of the action in Cobra Kai Season 4 got underway on Netflix, the streaming giant ordered a fifth season, which will land at some point in the near future. No surprise here, but Ralph Macchio and William Zabka (who are also executive producers, as Deadline pointed out in August 2021) will be returning for the next chapter in their decades-long history. Even though there are still some lingering questions we have about the series moving forward, everyone is still rather optimistic about the show’s future and its collection of iconic characters, both from the original movies and more recent revival series.
Much of the cast from the previous seasons of Cobra Kai are set to return, and they will be joined by a new face to the franchise. In May 2022, Deadline reported that Alicia Hannah-Kim had been cast as the formidable South Korean sensei Kim Da-Eun, who will be part of Terry Silver’s plan to further expand the Cobra Kai brand.
Cobra Kai Season 5 Will Show What Would Have Happened If Daniel LaRusso Lost In The Karate Kid Part III
Of the original trilogy, The Karate Kid Part III was the darkest movie and felt as it it had the highest stakes. But the movie could have been even darker, as the late director John G. Avildsen told Mandatory in 2014 that he originally wanted to have Daniel LaRusso killed off in the final fight against Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan). Since the movie came out in 1989, there has been a question as to what would have happened if Daniel would have lost that final fight instead of prevailing in the end. Well, in January 2022, Cobra Kai creator Hayden Schlossberg took to Twitter to say that Season 5 will answer that “long asked question” before saying “Nerds of the Valley, be scared.”
Although he didn’t provide any details or further context, this surely increases the stakes once again.
Cobra Kai Season 5 Will Lead To A Karate Bloodbath With Terry Silver
There have been some vicious villains in the “Miyagi-verse” over the years, and at the top of that list is Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), the big bad from The Karate Kid Part III who came back and was worse than ever in Cobra Kai Season 4. With how things ended up going down for Silver and John Kreese (Martin Kove) in the latest offering from Netflix, you would think that he would be a major player in Season 5.
Shortly after Cobra Kai Season 4 ended, Jacob Bertrand, who plays All-Valley champ Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz, sat down for an interview with People where he was asked if Terry Silver’s actions made him root for John Kreese, to which he said:
At the end of Season 4, that’s kind of how I felt. I was like, ‘[Terry] Silver’s so bad. We need [John] Kreese back in.’ He was more manageable, but Season 5 is all about trying to take down Silver. I don’t know. Kreese is an all-knowing evil, so that’s a scary wish to have.
In May 2022, Hayden Schlossberg turned to Twitter to promote the upcoming season while also teasing an upcoming “karate bloodbath.” With Miyagi-Do out of business and Johnny Lawrence on his own journey, Schlossberg said there is only one person who can take out Silver and his Cobra Kai takeover, a man from Okinawa. And that sounds a whole lot like Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto).
The Cobra Kai Season 5 Trailer Gives A Taste Of The Action In Los Angeles And Mexico
Following the All-Valley tournament during the Cobra Kai Season 4 ending, Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) left Johnny and the rest of his family and friends behind to go to Mexico to find his father. And judging by the Season 5 trailer, Johnny and Robby (Tanner Buchanan) will trek down to Mexico to find Miguel and bring him home. On top of that, Daniel LaRusso will be dealing with his own battles as he tries to find a way to stop Cobra Kai’s complete takeover of the Greater Los Angeles area.
There’s A Chance We See Daniel LaRusso And Johnny Lawrence Fight It Out Again
Over the years, Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence have squared off a few times, including part-way through Cobra Kai Season 4 (which ended in a tie), but it sounds like the two bitter-enemies-turned-not-so-bitter-enemies haven’t seen the last of one another in a match quite yet. When speaking with ET Online in January 2022, William Zabka made it seem like there’s always a chance the two former rivals could always square off again in the future, by saying that "people have differences" that could “light a fuse at any time” and turn into a “full-on brawl.”
He stopped short at saying the two are guaranteed to fight before Cobra Kai concludes at some point in the future, but the series does have a history of giving fans what they want more times than not.
Cobra Kai Season 5 Will Not Be The End Of The Line
In case you were under the impression that Cobra Kai is coming to an end any time soon, well, it looks like the show, and the “Miyagi-verse” is going to be around for a while longer, though the exact end date has not yet been announced or figured out. During a September 2021 Twitter Q&A session with fans of the Netflix series, Cobra Kai co-creator Jon Hurwitz was asked if he, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg had finished planning Season 5, and if the endgame had been planned, to which he replied:
We are very deep into our Season 5 planning. Several scripts and outlines have been written. And we are definitely writing towards an endgame, which will hopefully be beyond Season 5.
Several months later, Josh Heald told ScreenRant that there is more beyond Cobra Kai Season 5, saying that the next stage in the story would be “enormous” before stressing once again that it is not the end. Not yet.
There Is Always A Chance Julie Pierce Shows Up On Cobra Kai At Some Point
With so many characters from The Karate Kid and its sequels showing up on Cobra Kai over the course of the first four seasons, it would only make sense for Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce from The Next Karate Kid to make an appearance at some point in the future. Although Ralph Macchio didn’t come out and say Swank would be appearing in Cobra Kai Season 5 (or beyond) during a chat with ReelBlend’s Jake Hamilton on his Jake’s Takes interview series, the actor said there’s a chance she could, simply because she knew Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita):
Anyone who knew Mr. Miyagi and interacted with Mr. Miyagi is canon for our show...Someone like Julie Pierce, who was Hilary Swank’s role, did know Miyagi, so there’s always a chance for maybe that.
This is great news for longtime fans of the series but also bad for fans of the 2010 The Karate Kid remake, as Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith’s characters don’t meet the criteria because they never knew the original Mr. Miyagi.
Production On Cobra Kai Season 5 Wrapped In December 2021
In December 2021 (before Season 4 even started streaming), Cobra Kai co-creator Jon Hurwitz took to Twitter to say that production wrapped with two words: “Five” and “Fin.” The post also included two hashtags further driving home the point: #ByeAtlanta and #CobraKai.
Be on the lookout for more information on Cobra Kai Season 5 as we get closer to the show’s return in Fall 2022. In the meantime, check out our Netflix TV premiere schedule for the latest on all those new and returning series.
