The lively fights from “Cobra Kai” go into the next round. The new, fifth season of the “Karate Kid” successor will start on the Netflix streaming service on September 9th. The comedic action series doesn’t let much time pass between the individual chapters. The fourth season was only released on Netflix at the turn of the year on December 31, 2021 – and almost nine months later the new episodes continue.
Season four was extremely well received by audiences and critics. On the “Rotten Tomatoes” collection of reviews, for example, the season has an excellent average rating of 95 percent positive reviews, 91 percent of the audience there commented favorably on the entertaining, nostalgic karate fun.
Here’s what happened at the end of the previous fourth season and what fans and viewers can look forward to in season five – spoilers ahead for the series’ plot so far!
It all started with the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament in the cult film “The Karate Kid”. The karate tournament in Los Angeles was the climax and finale of the fourth “Cobra Kai” season that was released recently. Here villain Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith, 60) triumphed with his “Cobra Kai” dojo. The gloriously overdrawn villain, first introduced in 1989’s ‘The Karate Kid III’, announced during the awards ceremony that he intends to expand his dojo.
The long trailer for the fifth season of the Netflix series logically shows that “Cobra Kai” is spreading in the Los Angeles Valley. Villain Silver has also sought help for this purpose: With Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), another karate teacher joins the controversial dojo. In the universe of “The Karate Kid” and the follow-up series “Cobra Kai” the character is the first female sensei – a first.
Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio, 60) had actually vowed to close his dojo if “Miyagi-Do” loses the All Valley tournament. In fact, LaRusso also announces the dissolution of his karate school in the trailer. However, the main character from the original film “The Karate Kid” also declared at the end of season four that “an agreement with men without honor” is worth nothing. The trailer for the upcoming fifth season of the Netflix series also shows how Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka, 56) and LaRusso train students together again and teach karate – only this time in civilian clothes and not the outfits of the respective karate dojos ” Miyagi-Do” and “Eagle Fang Karate”.
The two former adversaries and brawlers are supported by returnee Chozen (Yuji Okumoto, 63), the antagonist from “The Karate Kid II – Decision in Okinawa” (1986). Chozen was already appearing in the third season of “Cobra Kai” when Daniel LaRusso traveled to Japan. Now he’s helping Johnny and Daniel fight Terry Silver.
The return of familiar faces from the “Karate Kid” films is a tradition in the “Cobra Kai” series. In addition to Chozen, viewers will therefore experience Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan, 55), Daniel’s formidable opponent from “The Karate Kid III” in season five. Kanan’s participation has already confirmed an official picture for the new episodes.
“Cobra Kai” creators Jon Hurwitz (44), Hayden Schlossberg (44) and Josh Heald (44) also indicated to “Deadline” that actress Hilary Swank (48) may return as Julie Pierce. The role as Mr. Miyagi’s (Pat Morita, 1932-2005) new student embodied Swank in “Karate Kid IV – The Next Generation” from 1994. However, nothing has been officially confirmed on this issue, the series makers do not let themselves be here in advance really look at the cards.
Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka, is heading to Mexico with his son Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan, 23) in the upcoming episodes. They are looking for Miguel (Xolo Maridueña, 21), who in turn is looking for his biological father. A teaser trailer released in May also showed Johnny fighting some bad guys in Mexico. The father-son conflict between Robby and Johnny should also be an issue on the road trip.
The trailer for season five also shows that Johnny earns a few bucks as an Uber driver. In terms of customer friendliness, however, there is still room for improvement here.
Many different, major and minor storylines from season four of the Netflix series are still awaiting resolution. For example, villain Silver tricked his former buddy John Kreese (Martin Kove, 76) and he ended up in prison. The trailer for season five now shows Kreese getting into a fight behind bars.
Terry Silver also rigged the All Valley Karate tournament in season four, helping his student Tory (Peyton List, 24) win. However, she found that out in the closing moments of the finale, and hasn’t yet gotten a chance to speak to Silver. How the impulsive Tory will react to the referee bribery remains to be seen.
Young actor Dallas Dupree Young (15) will be seen more often in season five of “Cobra Kai”. His character Kenny beat up Daniel LaRusso’s son Anthony (Griffin Santopietroc) in the season four finale. The trailer for season five now shows that Anthony is also being taught the secrets of karate by his father. After all, in the “Karate Kid” universe, learning martial arts is traditionally the best way to defend yourself against a bully of the same age.
