Cobra Kai. (L to R) William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence, Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, Yuji Okumoto as Chozen Toguchi in Cobra Kai. Cr. Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix © 2022
Cobra Kai is the wild success story of a great show eventually finding its audience, and it may not be ending with the series’ sixth and final season as its creators have teased that they’re working on possible spin-offs.
In speaking with Collider, showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald discussed the future of what they appear to be calling the “Miyagi-verse.”
“We will never give actual closure when it comes to anything,” said Heald when discussing how well Season 6 will wrap up everyone’s storylines. “We love working in the Cobra Kai universe, so there’s always potential to revisit that world. We’re certainly thinking about other ideas within the Miyagi-verse, and it’s only a matter of time before we figure out exactly which direction we’re gonna head. […] We’re really excited about Cobra Kai Season 6. We’re gonna go out with a bang, and it’s gonna be an amazing experience for fans of the franchise.”
Placing the suffix “-verse” at the end of a word when describing your franchise instantly turns it into something much bigger. While there are plenty of storylines and characters in Cobra Kai, a spin-off seems risky, let alone an entire universe of Karate Kid content. The things that make Cobra Kai work – its self-awareness and tongue-in-cheek action coupled with a surprising heart – are hard to replicate, especially as you make more and more of it. It would be quite the feat to expand that even further. Still, many didn’t believe Cobra Kai would work, and look what happened there.
As for season six of the show, which is set to start filming in 2024 and land sometime that same year, there’s only one thing that would really send everything out with a bang: Hillary Swank. The actress is the only major character from the original four “Miyagi-verse” films not to make an appearance in the show, and having a second student of Mr. Miyagi show up would be incredible. Regardless, the show will look to please fans one more time as it ends its run.