As “Cobra Kai” gets ready to drop its final five episodes early next year, stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka promised that the show will end on a thrilling note for fans. Speaking at a panel on the Sony Pictures Entertainment lot, Macchio and Zabka — along with the “Cobra Kai” executive producers — hinted that the explosive ending of Season 6’s Episode 10 sets the stage for a whirlwind last batch of episodes.
“You need to hit the bottom to come back up, and that’s kind of where we are,” Macchio said. “I’m very excited. It is set up to embrace that big ’80s movie ending that I have a feeling we will find and go forward. It feels right to land the plane, ‘Cobra Kai’ proper… [and that] this chapter is ending.”
The series has also been a culmination of the long-evolving relationship between Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence — a rivalry that began 40 years ago in “The Karate Kid.” Schlossberg said he, Heald and Hurwitz have worked hard to add multiple dimensions in all these characters, including taking villainous characters and flipping things on their heads to see them in a different light.
“Johnny Lawrence was the antagonist in the original ‘Karate Kid’ and now you’re rooting for him,” he said. “We really get in the head of all of our characters including the villains. It’s so much fun in the writer’s room, we’re always talking about how do you up the stakes but also keep it real. And you’ll see in the last five episodes we bring it to a next level, but it’s going to ultimately hit home in a real relatable way.”
As “Cobra Kai” winds down, Zabka said the experience of revisiting a character from his youth has been a “delightful surprise.” “As an actor, to get to play a character so three dimensional and heartfelt and funny and all those things, that’s what you sign up for when you do this,” he said. “You want to make an impact on somebody. The fact that it’s tied into ‘Karate Kid’ and has all these great themes and the fan base and all that just makes it surreal.”
Macchio, of course, isn’t done with Daniel LaRusso just yet: He’ll next be seen reviving the character opposite Jackie Chan in next year’s feature “Karate Kid: Legends.”
“I’ve walked the streets in these shoes for 40 plus years. And so I always talk about honesty and truth in the character, and that’s always what I’m looking for,” he said. “I just want to know where the character landed. I’ll jump through the hoops and wear the face paint and jump off the cliff and punch Johnny in the face. If it services his narrative, it’s cool. But where does it land? And that’s where the comfort was because we were always working toward the same goal. And that’s because [the producers] care. They care so much about these original films and these characters. And that’s why we have the richness in our performances and in the storytelling.”