In early November, a historic labor battle between actors and Hollywood studios ended after 118 days of SAG-AFTRA members taking to the picket line. Among them was Cobra Kai and Blue Beetle’s Xolo Maridueña, whom we spoke to on Tuesday. The action star shared with us how he stayed fit over three months despite not having a set to go to.
CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell talked to Xolo Maridueña just ahead of Blue Beetle heading to those with a Max subscription on Friday, November 17. O’Connell shared he wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Cobra Kai with its upcoming sixth and final season. Maridueña shared the sentiment, exclaiming “Me neither!” before saying the following:
It's been seven years! I can't let up. I'm like, 'What the heck?' ... We're still in the trenches, at the beginning. I am still so curious to know what is going to happen by the end. But I can just tell you it's going to be epic, every single episode! We've already done one of them, right before the strike. It's going to be the best. I did so many pushups in between. I'm ready. [Laughs]. I got my fair share of martial arts, so I'm ready to get back in.
Cobra Kai’s final season was initially set to film over the summer before premiering on Netflix this December, but the series’ filming schedule and release date have been shifted back due to the strikes. Per Deadline, the series is expected to resume filming in early 2024. When Maridueña hit the Cobra Kai set over summer, he of course didn’t know that he’d be out of work for months and needing to keep in the shape of the character for an extended period of time, but the actor kept up with training with “so many pushups” to stay ready to resume work on the series.
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Maridueña’s Cobra Kai journey began in 2018 when the series first premiered on YouTube Red/Premium in 2018. A huge new wave of fans were introduced to the series in 2020 when Netflix brought the series to the streaming platform. The actor has played a key role to The Karate Kid offshoot as Miguel Diaz, a student of martial arts who becomes the first new student to William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence before an entire karate empire takes shape in the Valley.
Along with the actor getting ready to resume the role of Miguel Diaz for the last time next year, this year he debuted a DC role in Blue Beetle. However, Xolo Maridueña’s first leading movie role came out in the middle of the SAG-AFTRA strike and he wasn’t able to promote it himself until now. Despite the movie becoming a box office bomb for Warner Bros, the character has been confirmed to return by DC Studios’ co-CEO and chairman James Gunn.
During our chat with Maridueña, the actor called the news “validating” along with sharing his excitement for what “the future holds.” While we don’t know what upcoming DC movies the actor will pop up in as Blue Beetle, it sounds like the actor’s relationship with the gym isn’t going to let down anytime soon.
