The cast of Netflix’s Cobra Kai has shared their inspiration for the fight sequences in the show. Although the cast is not in charge of choreographing the various fight scenes in the series, it appears they had a little creative input when designing certain sequences, taking inspiration from martial arts classics as well as some surprising sources.
Part of the Karate Kid franchise, the TV show Cobra Kai ended its six-season run with a very emotional finale. The last five episodes of Season 6 premiered this week on Netflix, providing fans around the globe with a conclusion that will surely give them something to talk about. While the show’s ending had more drama than fight scenes, the young cast of the show spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the martial arts sequences, specifically those involving several fighters, like Season 2’s school fight and Season 6’s chaotic fight in the Sekai Taikai. This is what Xolo Maridueña, who plays Miguel Diaz in the show, said:

“We get to take moves and draw inspiration from some of our favorite martial arts movies and bring them to our stunt coordinators and be like, ‘Hey, how can we incorporate something like this — there’s this flip or there’s this kick.”

Jacob Bertrand, who plays Hawk in the show, was more specific about his inspiration: “I definitely got to steal some moves from anime. I would just send them clips from anime, and be like, ‘I like this, this would be cool, that would be cool.’ And it was fun getting to actually incorporate that stuff into some of the fights.”

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Jamie Buchanan, Robbie in the show, says that he was inspired by one of his favorite movies, Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He remembers using one of the signature kicks in the movie for the high school brawl, but it was something he had to plan with his stunt double, Caine Sinclair:

“That little wrap-around kick there, me and my stunt double at the time, Caine Sinclair, we both love Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. There’s this one specific kick: they throw their legs up and around and do a side-kick with it.

We were trying to decide how practically we could actually do that, and we figured out if we used the banister, we could jump around and throw that leg around, and throw that side-kick and push Miguel into that wall. I was very proud of that, and Caine was very proud of that, that we kind of got to work that in. Nobody else knows about it, but I guess they do now.”

What’s Next in the ‘Cobra Kai’ Universe?

Cobra Kai has ended its official run with six seasons of absolute karate comedy bliss. But that doesn’t mean the show can’t continue. While it is part of a bigger universe (the MiyagiVerse?), Cobra Kai’s creators recently shared the news that they’re developing some spin-offs, though they only appeared to confirm details for one: It won’t be a drama centering around Miyagi, LaRusso, Johnny, Kreese, or Silver. It will follow the adventures of two of the most underrated characters in the show: Hawk and Demetri.
But that is not all. On May 30, 2025, The Karate Kid universe will keep expanding with Karate Kid: Legends, the first feature film in the franchise in 15 years. The movie takes place years after the events of Cobra Kai, and it stars franchise figure Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso. In Karate Kid: Legends, Daniel teams up with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han, the Miyagi-like character in the 2010 remake starring Chan and Jaden Smith. Both senseis will be in charge of mentoring Li Fong (Ben Wang), a Chinese teenager and martial arts prodigy who enters a karate competition in New York City.

Cobra Kai

3.5
/5

Release Date

2018 – 2024

Network

Netflix, YouTube Premium

Directors

Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz, Joel Novoa, Jennifer Celotta, Steven K. Tsuchida, Sherwin Shilati, Marielle Woods, Steve Pink, Lin Oeding, Michael Grossman

Writers

Josh Heald, Ashley Darnall, Chris Rafferty, Bill Posley