'Cobra Kai' Season 6 Will Officially End the Series

cobra kai
'Cobra Kai' Season 6 Will End the Series ForeverNetflix

Back in 1986—a year that also saw the releases of Top Gun and Hoosiers—we laid our eyes on The Karate Kid II. And while all of you adults who still dress up as Young Johnny Lawrence for Halloween every year, just so you can scream at your kids, "You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, little twerp?" will probably fight me on this, The Karate Kid II was infinitely more mediative than its predecessor. It damn near quadrupled the stakes of a silly karate tournament. I'll defend The Karate Kid II until the day I die. In fact, I think Ralph Macchio should've hung it up then and there.

We got The Karate Kid III instead. A coked-up Terry Silver, bonsai tree drama, a clearly too-old-to-be-playing-a-kid-anymore Macchio. The Karate Kid III turned out to be crusty backwash that wasn't remedied until the 2018 debut of Cobra Kai.

Now, after five seasons we know—officially—that Cobra Kai won't repeat the mistakes of the original franchise. In an emotional letter to their fans, Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg announced that they'll wrap the show "on our terms." That's right, people: Cobra Kai Season Six will end the series. "While this may be a bittersweet day for the fandom, the Miyagiverse has never been stronger," they wrote. "This fandom is the BEST on the planet and we hope to be telling more Karate Kid stories with you down the line. Because as we all know, Cobra Kai Never Dies." You can read the full letter below.

cobra kai
Netflix

Cobra Kai's creators have clearly always had an endgame in sight. It was just a matter of when the series would reach that point. "We do have a place where it’s all going, but that doesn’t mean the world has to stop there," Hurwitz told Total Film. "We have lots of ideas of continuing [the universe] and keeping the Karate Kid vibes going through other stories and other shows and different formats for that."

One of those ideas? It might just be the return of the only character left to return: Hilary Swank's Julie Pierce from The Next Karate Kid. Since the early days of Cobra Kai, fans have clamored for the 1994 film to get its call back. In a recent appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Swank said that she hasn't even received a call from the Cobra Kai team. "I'm not in Cobra Kai, no one's asked me to be in Cobra Kai. A lot of people ask if I'm going to be on it, it's like, the No. 1 question I get," Swank said. "No one's called me!" she continued, later quipping, "but it's so funny, isn't it, that's the one thing I get asked the most and no one's called me?" Do I even have to say it? Call her, Cobra Kai!

On that note: do I really want Cobra Kai to end? No. But there's only so much teen angst, daddy drama, and Valley karate hijinks left to play out in the story Heald, Hurwitz, and Schlossberg have set up. This is the right call—and I can't wait to see what spinoffs are in store. We still need the Mr. Miyagi origin story, at all costs. Maybe there's even an entirely new, LaRusso and Miyagi-less story to tell. Spoilers ahead, mind you, but Season Five set up a perfect final run for Cobra Kai. Johnny has a baby, Kreese shows up as the big baddie one last time, and all the kids finish the fight on the sides they're supposed to be on. (Except for Kenny. Come to the good side!). As for Daniel LaRusso? Eh. I don't know. Maybe his wife really should leave him for good.

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