Warning: This post contains Cobra Kai season 4 spoilers
Netflix's Cobra Kai returned to close out 2021 with its highly-anticipated fourth season. The end of the year brought about a great deal of Cobra Kai news, since it was also confirmed shortly before the season 4 premiere that season 5 had already wrapped production. That only raised viewer excitement in seeing what season 4 had in store, as it set up a tantalizing future for the hit series.
Screen Rant spoke with key members of the creative team: writers/directors Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg. Among the topics covered are key questions they had coming into the season, working with Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver, and what's next for season 5.
Going into the fourth season, Hayden, what would you say the number one question that you wanted to answer was?
Hayden Schlossberg: I would just say can Johnny and Daniel put aside their differences and come together? Can these two totally different karate ideologies merge into one united force? And when you watch Cobra Kai season 4, you'll see what happens.
Bringing Terry Silver into the fold - first of all, total daddy! He hasn't acted since 2007, so what was the process of even getting him on board? Was that a challenge? Was he apprehensive? Jon, what would you say?
Jon Hurwitz: We knew that we wanted to bring him back for a long time. And luckily, we've had a few seasons of the show airing, so you start to see and hear things through the grapevine. You see on social media him liking certain posts about the show and people talking about him, you're hearing through friends - we've become good friends with Robert Mark Kamen, who created the original films, and who knew Thomas Ian Griffith well and was just raving about him, saying he's the best guy ever.
Even though he hadn't acted in a while, Karate Kid 3 was his very first movie ever, and no one would ever believe that because he was so impactful in that film. But it was a special movie for him. When we decided to bring him out of a writers' room - we're all writers, we all live in a writers room, and we know what that job is like. So, we're like, he might want to be like a giant star of a TV show instead of the kind of lifestyle that we have in the writers' room.
We brought him in, he was thrilled to do it. And, like you said, he makes an impression. He makes an impression on everyone. Anyone who has seen the show is blown away by his performance. And certainly, he is a daddy, as you would say.
Thank you for affirming me. I was the biggest Next Karate Kid girl; that was my jam of the Karate Kid franchise. Is there a plan to reach out to Hillary Swank at any point? Josh, give me some good news.
Josh Heald: We'll never discuss our plans or whether we have or have not already reached out. But we will say The Next Karate Kid is fair game. We look at the Miyagi-verse - as we like to call it, as somebody has coined it - as any movie that had Mr. Miyagi in it, and as the canon of our world. And clearly, Julie is part of that world, and so is her experience.
So, if our series gets there, you'll find out by watching Cobra Kai. That's the best I can say.
Hayden will tell me. Right, Hayden?
Hayden Schlossberg: I don't want to spoil or disappoint anybody. So, let's just say I'm with you. I'm rooting for that to happen.
My other pitch from that movie is that baby Walton Goggins was in it.
Hayden Schlossberg: Anybody that's in the franchise - doesn't matter where you were on the call sheet back then - you're in this world now. And there's a chance you can end up in Cobra Kai. So, Walton, just know we're thinking about you.
I want to ask my spoiler question here. At the end of the season, Terry mentions, "I might know an old friend or two." You don't have to say who they are, but do you have people in mind that you're bringing into the fold next season?
Jon Hurwitz: Absolutely. We've filmed most of season 5 already, but when we were making season 4, when he was delivering that line, we had some thoughts as to who may be coming. And I'm sure there are fans out there who may feel the same way.
We can't confirm or deny who that might be, but I think every season of Cobra Kai brings new surprises and often characters from the past. So, just keep watching the show and you'll see who gets to pop up.
Cobra Kai season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.