Summary

Josh Heald reveals “there’s a lot that we’re thinking about” when it comes to him and his fellow
Cobra Kai
showrunners pursuing spin-offs when the Netflix series ends in 2025.
Heald also says that he and his creative colleagues behind the streaming show, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, “never stop talking about this franchise” that they love so much.

The Karate Kid
stars, Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, recall how they reunited years prior to
Cobra Kai,
and it was the death of Mr. Miyagi actor Pat Morita that brought them back together.

“There’s a lot that we’re thinking about,” Cobra Kai co-showrunner Josh Heald reveals about pursuing future spin-offs of the immensely popular Netflix series. Along with Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, the talented trio revived The Karate Kid’s legacy for the small screen, which has translated into five seasons of unforgettable bingeworthy storytelling. And now that the sixth and final season is just days away, Heald is addressing the possibility of spin-offs after Cobra Kai Season Six — Part 3 drops in 2025. Heald said in an interview (per Collider):

“There’s a lot that we’re thinking about.
There’s not a lot we can talk about yet, but I can say, you know us, we love this franchise.
We never stop talking about this franchise.
We talk about contemporary spin-offs, we talk about spin-offs that take place 80 or 90 years ago,
and we continue to look to the future and the fandom and our partners at Sony and Netflix to help us determine when we can begin to talk about some of that stuff.”

Cobra Kai’s magic partly lies in the show’s literal redeeming qualities. The one-time bully of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), aka Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), has completely been transformed into a sympathetic and heroic figure on the Netflix series. Likewise, LaRusso’s opponents in The Karate Kid sequels, Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) and Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), have both mended their relationships with the titular, Crane-kicking protagonist. However, in real life, and years before the advent of Cobra Kai, it was Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), who actually reunited Macchio and Zabka for the first time in over 20 years.

Pat Morita’s Death First Reunited Karate Kid Rivals

In another recent interview with Josh Heald, the creative revealed that he and his Cobra Kai co-creators “have a gazillion ideas where this series and this franchise goes.” And future stories and spin-offs seem possible thanks to the devotion and love for The Karate Kid source material, including the OG’s Daniel LaRusso (Macchio), Mr. Miyagi (Morita) and Johnny Lawrence (Zabka), which have made the Netflix series so successful.

But long before Daniel and Johnny renewed their rivalry, and eventually became friends on Cobra Kai, Macchio and Zabka hadn’t seen each other for the better part of two decades. And it was Morita’s death in 2005 that brought them back together over 20 years after shooting the original film. Macchio said in a brand-new interview with PEOPLE:

“I lived on the East Coast, he [Zabka] lived on the West Coast, and life got in the way.
We hadn’t spoken in probably 15, 20 years at the point that Pat [Morita] passed away.
I remember seeing Billy at the memorial service in Vegas,
and I instantly had this emotional feeling.
It was a comfort seeing him there.
And from that point on, our adult friendship started to happen, and it was quite meaningful.”

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Zabka, who portrays the most beloved of Cobra Kai’s best characters, added:

“Pat meant a lot to both of us individually, and Pat and I were dear friends.
When he passed, it was super sad.
Ron Thomas [Bobby in The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part II, Cobra Kai]
and I got on the phone and said,
‘We have to go,’
and we flew to Vegas […]
It’s interesting in hindsight how Miyagi has brought us together.

It was just one of those moments where we both came from our worlds to a center point where it all started for both of us,
and, in a way, that became an ignition for our friendship.
It really just started to grow from there and evolve from there.”

Cobra Kai
Season 6 — Part 1 drops Thursday, July 18 exclusively on
Netflix.