Ending “Cobra Kai” after six seasons was a good move by series creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg because it allowed them to conclude the show’s story on their own terms. However, this also means Netflix will be devoid of new seasons of the reliably delightful karate comedy-drama going forward. In other words? It’s time to have a serious discussion about the future of the property.
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With Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso busy teaming up with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han in the upcoming “Karate Kid: Legends” (which doesn’t involve Heald, Hurwitz, or Schlossberg), the “Cobra Kai” power trio is free to hatch their own plans within the franchise. In a PaleyFest 2025 red carpet interview with The Direct, Hurwitz was able to offer an eagerly awaited update on the status of potential “Cobra Kai” things to come … and it seems that if anything, the showrunners are spoiled for choice:
“I mean, we have a buffet in front of us in terms of what we’d like to do, and it just has to line up with what our partners at Sony and Netflix want to do. There are contemporary spin-offs that take place after the events of ‘Cobra Kai.’ There are other spin-offs that, you know, we know the audience has been speculating about that took place 100 years ago. We’ll have to see, you know, and everything in between. We’ll have to see which one is the right time and the right project. But hopefully, there’s more to share soon.”
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The Karate Kid franchise could go anywhere from here, but one direction seems more likely than most
For what started as a movie franchise that, frankly, began treading water by the third film and has yet to re-prove its big screen chops, the “Karate Kid” property is truly doing well after “Cobra Kai” — and Hurwitz’s comments about the endless possibilities for future shows only further affirm this idea. We here at /Film are certainly following these developments with interest, to the point that our own Nick Staniforth has already compiled a handy list of “Karate Kid” spin-offs we want to see after “Cobra Kai.” (Give us that Chozen series, Netflix!)
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If we follow the breadcrumbs, though, it seems that the most likely future show will revolve around the one character who was physically absent from “Cobra Kai,” but whose spirit was felt throughout. “Cobra Kai” season 6 perfectly set up a spin-off for Mr. Miyagi (originally played by Pat Morita), to the point that it even introduced a potential star of a “Young Miyagi” show when Brian Takahashi briefly portrayed the character during a dream sequence. The “Cobra Kai” showrunners have also been fairly open about wanting to do something with Miyagi, and given that the character was canonically born in 1925, Hurwitz’s comment about a rumored spin-off set around a century ago is almost certainly yet another reference to it.
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With all of these possibilities piled high on the “Cobra Kai” trio’s table, it seems more likely by the day that at least one spin-off is on the way. Like Hurwitz said, it’ll probably be a while before we learn more — but since he seemed hopeful that announcements will arrive soonish, fans probably shouldn’t abandon their “wax on, wax off” exercise routines just yet.
“Cobra Kai” is now streaming on Netflix.
