Spoilers for the YouTube Red series Cobra Kai will follow. If you haven't yet watched all 10 episodes of the original program, bail out now and come back later.
Cobra Kai is a TV series born of a rivalry between high-school antagonists Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). As the season progressed, each man became mentors to younger karate students, who eventually faced off in the All Valley Karate Tournament... which is what you do when you are in the Karate Kid. But will the TV series ever get to a point where Johnny and Daniel settle their ongoing differences with their feet and fists? We got close a few times in season one, so when I sat down with Cobra Kai creators Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald to discuss the direction of the show going forward, I asked if the guys might fight in season two, and Hurwitz told me:
It feels like that's the ultimate destiny for these characters at this point, is to, at some point, come to that head. It's just a matter of when, and if, it's actually going to happen. But that feels like that's in the ether.
We came dangerously close to seeing Johnny and Daniel face off, mano-a-mano, in season one of Cobra Kai. And yet, it was borderline friendly fire. After an afternoon of drinking -- where they actually stalked ex-flame Ali (Elisabeth Shue) on Facebook -- the guys were heading back to Daniel's dojo to spar. Friendly. They even made a joke that it's a Rocky III thing, where Rocky and Apollo Creed got in the boxing ring as colleagues at the very end, to finally settle which one is the better fighter. Only, Johnny's son, Robby (Tanner Buchanan), is waiting there for Daniel, driving a wedge between the old foes once again.
"Old." That's one thing Jon Hurwitz brought up when we talked about Daniel and Johnny sparring again. He told CinemaBlend:
[Well], they are, at the same time, adults. [laughs] But you could, you know, even as an adult, people can relate to being brought back to that high school level. And I think that throughout the show, there's the potential for that to happen at any point.
When Cobra Kai set up season two, Daniel was preparing to train Robby. Daniel's own daughter, Samantha (Mary Mouser), showed off her potential. And Johnny has a dodo filled with bullies over at his Cobra Kai location. And yet, the audience wants to see the grown men -- Johnny versus Daniel -- and it sounds like the show's creators have this on their radar, as well.
Cobra Kai currently is available on YouTube Red. A second season has been ordered, though despite my best efforts, the guys behind the hit series couldn't tell me when it was coming. So be patient, and enjoy the 10 shows they gave you. We'll be waxing on and off once again soon enough.
