Shakeups To Come (Update Oct 2024)

Shakeups To Come (Update Oct 2024)

Back when Cobra Kai launched in 2018, The Karate Kid spin off emerged as a rare successful revival in a sea of reboots and remakes. Six years later (and following a remarkably annual cadence amid both the pandemic and Hollywood strikes), the show is preparing for the final battles of this televised version of Miyagi-do. The supersized sixth season will soon launch its second of three legs with the fight for karate dominance now going international.

That’s what happens with the baddies get pushed out of the Valley after four decades, but as the audience learned at the end of the first part of this season, Kreese has resurrected new Cobra Kai dojo members, which he trained alongside Sensei Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), and Tory defected from Miyagi-do to join the only father figure she’s ever known. An ominous face off ended that chapter of the season, so let’s talk about what to expect next.

Plot

Netflix

Netflix’s description of Part 2 (episodes 6-10) takes the show into “the Sekai Taikai, where Miyagi-Do will face new challenges and old enemies as they fight to become world champions – can they stay united as internal rivalries bubble back to the surface?”

Those internal rivalries remain unresolved, and of course, it does not take a leap of logic to realize that Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence will still occasionally be at each other’s throats amid a new environment. According to co-creator Hayden Schlossberg in a Tudum interview, the intense new level of competition might mean Miyagi-do is in over its head:

“[T]he first thing that you’re going to notice is we’re not in the Valley anymore. It’s a totally different environment. The competitive space is different from previous All Valley tournaments. There’s no crowd watching. This is a karate temple that they’re going to, where the only people in attendance are black belts or karate masters.”

Since this is a heightened universe, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Sekai Taikai is a fictional competition and one designed to help showcase the soap-opera aspects of this series. And part of these theatrics will be televised.

Netflix

This will roll out through these five new episodes and could continue into the final five next year, although Schlossberg and his fellow co-creators, Jon Hurwitz and Josh Heald, will need to wrap up the series while pointing toward the upcoming Ralph Macchio/Jackie Chan film, Karate Kid: Legends. The co-creators have also suggested that a Miyagi spin off could be greenlit.

Speaking of Mr. Miyagi, expect Daniel to be fixated by the box of personal history that suddenly surfaced out of a hidden floor compartment. Ralph Macchio admitted that Daniel-san feels “hurt and pain” about being kept in the dark, which will cause will cause turmoil with those who surround him:

“For Daniel, when we discover and introduce this box of Miyagi’s secrets, clues of a life that may have not added up to him … that’s a big part of the arc. Daniel winds up wondering and not understanding why he wasn’t told of things, and the hurt and pain of that. But also, the deeper he tries to unearth it, the more tangents he goes off on and potentially loses his focus on his students and his family … He needs to fight some real kicks in the gut, and find a place within his heart and soul to get through it.”

Macchio did promise, “Things will eventually make sense as to why [Mr. Miyagi] motivates Daniel in this specific story, and I’m looking forward to that.” And a reminder: “The legacy of [Cobra Kai] is blurring the lines of good over evil — overcoming the obstacles and finding your inner self.”

Additionally, South Korean Sensei Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim) receives more screen time, which was frankly overdue.

Netflix

Cast

A trio of new cast members include Lewis Tan (as Sensei Wolf), Patrick Luwis (as Axel Kovacevic), and Rayna Vallandingham (as Zara Malik), who will surface at the global tournament, presumably as foes. Likewise, Peyton List (as Tory) will be on the side where Martin Kove (as Sensei Kreese), Alicia Hannah-Kim (as Sensei Kim Da-Eun) and Brandon H. Lee (as Kwon) stand against Miyagi-do.

As for Miyagi-do itself, those actors still include Ralph Macchio (as Sensei Daniel-san LaRusso), William Zabka (as Sensei Johnny Lawrence), Jacob Bertrand (as Eli/Hawk), Mary Mouser (as Samantha), Xolo Maridueña (as Miguel), Tanner Buchanan (as Robby), Gianni DeCenzo (as Demetri), Dallas Dupree Young (as Kenny), and Griffin Santopietro (as Anthony).

Meanwhile, Vanessa Rubio (as Carmen) and Courtney Henggeler (as Amanda) will still be putting up with too much of this karate seriousness, and we probably won’t see Paul Walter Hauser again as Stingray this season because Hauser already made a cameo and is currently juggling other projects.

Release Date

Nov. 15 (send it to the internet). Then final five episodes of the series will surface in 2025 before the next The Karate Kid movie, which is pencilled in for May 30, 2025.

Trailer

After heaps of buildup, let the larger-than-life fighting begin.

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