Netflix’s Cobra Kai returned for its fifth season on September 9 and since then, the popular series has taken control of the No. 1 on the streamer’s top 10 list with no signs of slowing down.
Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg Getty And thanks to that continued success, series creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg are in very high demand. The trio is currently working on their upcoming Netflix series Obliterated, a “high octane” action-comedy that tells the story of an elite special forces team who thwarts a deadly threat to Las Vegas.
Deadline also recently revealed exclusively that Heald, Hurwitz, and Schlossberg are working on a film for Paramount Pictures titled Sam and Victor’s Day Off, a spinoff of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off focusing on the valet drivers who went on a joyride in the John Hughes film.
With a sixth season of Cobra Kai yet to be confirmed, could it potentially be delayed?
“We’re still working all that out with Sony and Netflix, and we don’t have an official Season 6 to announce yet,” Hurwitz said during a recent interview. “What we can say is that we’re constantly thinking about these characters. We are working on Obliterated right now for Sony and Netflix. We’re in our second month of production on that, and I think it’s going to blow people’s minds. But we’re hopeful that there’s going to be more Cobra Kai on the horizon. There may be a little bit more of a wait potentially, just because we are in the midst of working on that other show, but it won’t be far behind, assuming everything goes as we’re expecting.”
He continued, “And as for the Ferris Bueller project, we are so excited about that project which we’re producing. We have a great writer, Bill Posley, who’s worked on Cobra Kai with us, who we love and he has an awesome take on it. It’s exciting to dip into the John Hughes universe, but see a side of that world that we haven’t seen with these characters, Sam and Victor, who were the valets in the original Ferris Bueller movie. The three of us are suckers for side characters in general and love to see what’s going on in their worlds, so that’s going to be a fun one when we get to it. But that will not impact any Cobra Kai going forward. It’s really about working on Obliterated, getting through our production there, and then figuring out the path for more Cobra Kai.”
Yuji Okumoto as Chozen Toguchi Netflix With Season 5 not having ended in a traditional cliffhanger, fans should be able to hold a bit longer than usual for more episodes. A lot of loose ends were tied up by the finale in a season that focused on healing that brought together pairs that may have surprised fans.
Therein lies the magic of Cobra Kai, at least in part, seeing old foes learn to respect different points of view who eventually become friends and family.
“Rivalry is a huge aspect of this show and there’s been a lot of rivalry with the younger characters, from Miguel [Xolo Maridueña] and Robby [Tanner Buchanan] to Sam [Mary Mouser] and Tory [Peyton List], and it’s rooted in the original rivalry of Johnny [William Zabka] and Daniel [Ralph Macchio]. We liked the idea that not every generation, even though we repeat a lot of things, that we get to learn from the previous generation. The hope has been that Sam and Tory and Miguel and Robby can end their high school days on a better note than Johnny and Daniel did,” shared Schlossberg.
Speaking of longtime Karate Kid fans and rivalries, Season 5 brought Daniel together with Johnny, who is going to have a baby with Miguel’s mom Carmen (Vanessa Rubio), and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) for a night out of partying at a nightclub. Yes, Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen—mind blown!
“We knew from the first time we talked to Yuji in Season 3, what an important part of this series he was going to become,” Heald said. “He was such a pivotal character in the original franchise, but like with Johnny and Kreese [Martin Kove), it’s Daniel’s story and he gets to play kind of one note. We began to explore a little bit of the nuance of what makes adult Chozen tick in Season 3, but it was really that choice at the end of Season 4 to bring him back and have him basically feel like an assassin who’s arrived in the valley to go murder all of Daniel’s enemies.”
Cobra Kai. (L to R) Vanessa Rubio as Carmen, William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence in episode 509 of Cobra Kai. Cr. Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix © 2022 Netflix There’s no way we would breeze by the Johnny and Carmen news which will hopefully bring about a wedding in the future. Could this be the moment that changes everything for Johnny?
“Maybe the third time’s the absolute charm for Johnny,” Heald teased. “He has a biological son that he messed up and he holds a lot of regret and resentment at himself for how he behaved as an unprepared father. He’s had a mostly good but somewhat tumultuous relationship with Miguel at times in terms of not always doing the right thing or saying the right thing, and fear that maybe he’s not the greatest mentor at times, but ultimately, these two keep coming back to each other and we’re feeling really good about that relationship.”
He added, “But Johnny and Carmen, she’s been this breath of fresh air in his life, one of the only calming influences that kind of draws him back to reality and gives him a person to really connect with— who isn’t as deep into the karate wars as he is. It was important to us that we not look for ways to sully that. They are having a baby and we think it’s a wonderful thing for Johnny.”
And for everyone also hoping to see Johnny become a #girldad, you’re not alone. But the trio is keeping that news in a lockbox until their pens are ready to shape the future of Cobra Kai.
“We’ll see,” the trio said in unison.
