With Cobra Kai, William Zabka reprised his role as Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid films. Not only did the actor impress the audience with his performance once again, but he also fulfilled a 33-year-old wish of his with the Netflix series.
Zabka revealed that he desperately wanted to work with three actors during the 1980s shoot of The Karate Kid films. Although all three were part of the franchise, he did not get to share the screen with them. Well, over thirty years later, Cobra Kai made his dream come true.
Cobra Kai Made William Zabka’s Dream Come True
Zabka, who was part of the original The Karate Kid film series, returned in Netflix’s Cobra Kai as Johnny Lawrence, the rival of Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio. While the two stars have been associated with the martial arts comedy-drama since its inception in 2018, they were joined by several other actors from the film trilogy over the subsequent few seasons.
These included Yuji Okumoto, who played Chozen Toguchi in The Karate Kid Part II, and Thomas Ian Griffith and Sean Kanan, who starred as Terry Silver and Mike Barnes, respectively, in The Karate Kid Part III. Zabka recently revealed in an interview that he is a fan of all three actors, and it was his dream to work with them; however, he did not get to shoot any scenes with them in the original films.
“I knew Sean. I knew Sean before he even got ‘Karate Kid’ … but I never met Thomas. I knew Yuji well. But I was a fan of them in the film and the ‘Karate Kid’ franchise as their characters. So to get to rub arms with them on screen has just been really fun,” Zabka said in the interview.
The actor’s dream finally came true three decades later as Ian Griffith joined Cobra Kai in its fourth season, while Okumoto and Kanan were roped in to reprise their roles as guest stars in season 5. The latter two will also be seen in recurring roles in Cobra Kai Season 6.
“They’re total professionals. They come prepared, ready to go. And they’re killing it. I especially love my stuff with Yuji, because that’s the stuff where I get to have a conversation and not just be in fight or flight mode. So we had some fun things where Johnny and Chozen get to go arm-in-arm. And that was exciting,” Zabka said about the experience of working with the trio.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
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