Maybe youve even watched them two times or three times.
Whatever the case, if youve seen them you certainly have a lot of questions.
Dont worry, weve got you covered.
Creators Josh Heald, Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz talk Cobra Kai.© Netflix
Germain Lussier, io9: Before I get into my nerdy specifics, I want to go big picture.
Can you guys even grasp what youve done?
You made a six-season sequel to your favorite movie franchise.
Let’s get started – Netrlix
Can you fathom that you were able to pull that off and have you let it sink in yet?
Hayden Schlossberg:Its sunk in.
Weve hung out with Marty Cove enough where were like, Yeah, this is not a dream.
Let’s get started – Netrlix
Nowadays, its really tough to get to season six.
io9: And it did.
Okay, so Ive been waiting since season one and we finally got there.
William Zabka crushes in the final episodes of Cobra Kai – Netflix
You finally played the song.
Jon Hurwitz: It was a moment that we had in mind for a very long time.
We love the idea of it being in the final episode.
Terry Silver’s final resting place – Netflix
We loved it being during a training montage with Johnny and Daniel.
So yeah, it kind of landed exactly where we wanted it to.
io9: The show wraps up in the way that it starts.
Axl rules – Netflix
Its about Johnny Lawrence and the rebirth of Cobra Kai.
Like did you work towards it specifically or did it just become obvious later?
Josh Heald:We shared that more with each other than with them.
Cameos even extend to the cars. Image: Netflix
We dribbled out a little bit to them as it became real-real.
But it was always our intent to see Johnny gain control of his own dojo again.
That was our charge in front of us.
Image: Netflix
So when it became time to do that we unveiled the plan to them.
Was that an intentional setup to match the titles of the bookend episodes?
Yeah, we talked about the last episode being that title Ex-Degenerate for a long period of time.
And yeah, it was just the bookend.
And we wanted it where, in the final episode, he gets that second chance.
But now with that comes a lot of pressure.
Like if he screws it up, then hes just going to feel like hes a loser.
What about the specifics of the Seikai-Teikai in these last episodes?
We knew that we were going to have Johnny at the end.
We knew that they were going to be Cobra Kai in the end.
We wanted specifically, Miguel and Johnny as Cobra Kai to have these final victories.
The Terry Silver references.
Devon stepping down and Kenny coming in.
Oh my God, guys, So good.
Okay Killing Kreese in Silver in a boat explosion.
Tell me about that decision.
Was there any specific reason and why doesnt it really get to get brought up again in the finale?
I know Wolf mentions it real quick, but tell me a little bit about both parts of that.
And then once Silver entered the equation, it became clear that was going to be the clash.
But prior to season six, we decided it was going to be on a yacht.
But really, whats it going to be?
And were like, Its going to be on a yacht.
What if its this mountaintop over here?
And were like, Guys, its a yacht.
Its on the ocean.
Were going to do this.
Having another fight in the house just didnt make sense.
And we never actually see any bodies.
Its fair to assume that he died based on the explosion, but it was a very far-back shot.
Heald: Hayden is pitching an animated series calledA Very Badly Burned Kreese.
Schlossberg: So I say Kreese and Silver, I like to think, are still alive.
We want the feelings of the finale to be grounded and back in the world where we started.
We did… this is something that we did cut.
And we even had Marty Kove there with his hand, pick up the magazine just in case.
We knew it would be too ridiculous.
Schlossberg: We didnt want to make it clear that hes alive.
So we felt its better to keep it vague and let the audience interpret it.
That boat exploded so much that nothing remained.
And theyre not going to really find anything that washes ashore from that boat for a few days.
[All Laugh.]
io9: I love that.
Freddy Krueger Terry Silver.
Next, you brought back basically everybody you could and would want.
The one that everybody always asks about is Hilary Swank, who doesnt show up.
How close were we, if at all, to ever having her on the show?
Schlossberg: Its one of those situations where we always explore.
We make a run at find out what the options are because we dont control all these actors lives.
It was no guarantee that we were going to get Yuji [Okumoto] or Thomas Ian Griffith back.
So we explored it.
But we learned pretty quickly that that wasnt going to happen in the final season.
And we always construct things in a way where its not everything reliant on one uncontrollable piece of talent.
So that like, oh my God, the whole house of cards falls apart.
Hurwitz:Well, Elizabeth Shue.
Everything would have fallen apart had she not shown up.
That was the one exception.
That was the thing where we painted ourselves into a corner.
Heald:Only she could un-paint ourselves.
But one of the things we always say is, things happen for a reason.
And creatively, it actually worked out totally fine.
And were thrilled with how the season ended up.
Heald:And Ill say theres no lost episode out there.
We didnt get deep enough where were like, Here it is and now we have to totally shift.
We explored very early to just make that relationship and see if it was possible.
And the timing was such that it just couldnt work out.
And we wrote knowing that.
So we didnt have any kind of remorse.
Okay, tell me a little about the final scene.
Why is that there kind of as a little button?
Heald: I think we just wanted to have a palate cleanser.
These two are friends.
Johnny doesnt know how to pay his taxes.
And then the fly was really the cherry on top.
It was just one more moment.
It was literally like us saying like Its going to be okay.
And us just wanting one more bite at a scene with these two guys together.
Heald:Of course.
Schlossberg:Well, you know, we talked about things.
Ill say that we had a game plan.
Weve talked about what happened.
And then we realized you dont need to know all the details.
A lot of times you dont know every single thing.
Probably not everything was great.
And we dont know it.
But Daniel will probably just assume the best when it comes to Mr. Miyagi.
And if it was something, well, then you know what?
Hes a human being just like all of us.
And then, yes.
And at the time you said you had access to more of that.
Schlossberg I think maybe in [season 6, episode 13] in one of the Johnny/Kreese scenes.
Johnnys flashing back to when Kreese got him in a chokehold.
Heald: That might be a new angle that we didnt use in episode one of the series.
Hurwitz:Yeah, I think theres that.
But I think throughout the series, theres a number of moments like that.
Where our editors had access to all the dailies and threw things in there.
But that was definitely one where we did it.
We used a lot of new angles there between Daniel and Miyagi.
It was never fully digitized.
Like we keep sending people back to the salt mines to look for it.
io9: Yeah, of course.
Hurwitz:I dont think so.
Heald:I think, look, a high tide raises all ships.
So were rooting for that movie.
This is a big ecosystem, theKarate Kiduniverse.
Weve been most invested in the Daniel LaRusso, Johnny Lawrence, and John Kreese story for six seasons.
Thats a different branch of the tree.
Thats Mr. Hans universe that Daniel is stepping into.
And we wish it well.
And we hope that everything in this universe can have their moment to shine.
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