Lex Valluzzi, Arts Editor
It all started back in 1984 when Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel San to “wax on and wax off.” The Karate Kid film directed by John G. Avildsen was wildly successful; sparking a trilogy with actor Ralph Macchio, a spin off starring Hillary Swank and a remake with Jaden Smith.
Back in 2018, a new concept was created around the original film. A television show starring William Zabka, the original actor of bad guy Johnny Lawrence. The show’s title stems from the name of the antagonist’s dojo in the original classic. This time, Johnny Lawrence is middle aged and teaching karate to the new-in-town teenager, Miguel Diaz played by actor Xolo Maridueña. Over time, we see a number of students grow and learn to fight, with plenty of twists and turns along the way.
After a brilliant seven-year run, the beloved show has come to an end. Over the course of six seasons, we saw many of the great actors of the Karate Kid past come back on the screen, as well as some new actors and characters such as the High Schoolers of the show: Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Tanner Buchanan, Peyton List and Gianni DeCenzo to name a few.
On February 13th, Netflix released the last few episodes of the show’s final season. Season six, which was released in three parts, had seen some ups and downs and took on some themes and challenges way greater than the All-Valley Championship. Featuring fierce battles, shocking character progression, and new roster of karate villains; the final episodes sure brought the Karate Kid cinematic universe to an eventful close. Currently, Cobra Kai is ranked in fifth place on Netflix’s most popular television shows.
Although filming ended months ago, the cast just appeared on the red carpet where U.S Weekly got a bit of insight on how the cast felt about the show coming to an end. Zabka stated in his red-carpet interview “I’ve loved seeing the kids grow as actors, it’s a real family behind the cameras…a lot of love went into this show.”
To celebrate the end of an era, Netflix partnered with BuzzFeed and released some videos of the cast having some off-screen fun for the last time. Cobra Kai “Cast Wars” features some trivia about the show and each other. A video was also released of the season six cast reacting to their audition tapes, along with some fun blooper clips.
There have been some jokes made by the cast about how this isn’t really goodbye, and in twenty years another reboot will emerge. But of course, these are just jokes and for now this is the end.
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