If you thought things on Cobra Kai were painful enough for our cast members, the show just confirmed that iconic baddie Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) is bringing his ponytail and his aggressive attitude to the fourth season of the popular Netflix program. And with this short first-look video comes the promise: “Now the real pain begins.”
If you just asked yourself, “Who?” then I know that you aren’t a fan of the 1989 sequel The Karate Kid Part III. And honestly, I can’t say that I blame you. It’s widely believed among Karate Kid fans that the first two movies in the franchise are the cream of the crop, while The Karate Kid Part III went so far off the mat, it forced the series to reinvent itself with The Next Karate Kid, starring a young Hilary Swank in the title role.
Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) was a new though equally important character introduced in The Karate Kid Part III. Billed as best friend to John Kreese (Martin Kove), this wealthy businessman agrees to help his war buddy gain revenge on Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Miyagi (Pat Morita) after they defeated Cobra Kai at the All-Valley. We learn that Terry Silver co-founded Cobra Kai with Kreese, and he concocts a diabolical plan to mentally attack Daniel, separating him from Miyagi in his quest to restage a rematch at the All-Valley. His presence on the rejuvenated Netflix show Cobra Kai was inevitable, and anticipated by most Karate Kid fans.
Season Three of Cobra Kai successfully brought back characters and themes from the popular The Karate Kid Part II, with Daniel (Macchio) returning to Okinawa and reconnecting with both Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) and his former nemesis, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto). As the third season wound down, however, Daniel and Johnny (William Zabka) had combined their dojos in order to take on Kreese and his harmful teachings. And we saw Kreese place a phone call, assumedly to Terry Silver. Today, that casting has been confirmed.
We’re kind of running out of cool, big name cameos who can play a role in Cobra Kai and rekindle the magic they forged in the original movies. In addition to all of the people I’ve already mentioned above, Cobra Kai Season Three spent time revisiting Allie (Elisabeth Shue), the girl who came between Daniel and Johnny in the first place. At this point, pretty much the only person left to play a part would be Hilary Swank, unless we just tore down the wall completely and had Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith reprise their roles from the charming 2010 remake. A Karate Kid multiverse, anyone?!
We don’t know for certain when Cobra Kai Season Four will reach Netflix. All they have said is later in 2021. Make sure you are checking our 2021 Netflix Schedule for all of the other programming that is reaching the streamer, and as soon as we know more about Terry Silver’s triumphant return, we’ll report it here.
