Cobra Kai, premiered on Netflix this Friday, August 28, 2020, with its first two seasons, 36 years after the original movie it's based on, The Karate Kid, stole our hearts. The Will Smith-produced series initially debuted on YouTube Red in 2018, and has been nominated for two Emmys since.
Starring William Zabka and Ralph Macchio, playing the same roles that first gave them fame, the series starts with a flashback of the Under-18 All Valley Karate Championship that took place on December 19, 1984. The championship match ends with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) doing the crane kick and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) doing the infamous leg sweep.
Danny, whose instructor is now dead, has now grown older and is a successful car dealer with a beautiful family of his own. On the other hand, Johnny finds himself stuck in the past, where he lost to Danny. He is still trapped, mentally and emotionally, thanks to the brutal lessons from his former sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove).
To celebrate the premiere of the series on Netflix, Will Smith posted a short video of one of its iconic scenes on his Instagram Story.
Created by Executive Producers Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg, Cobra Kai is a Sony Pictures Television series that focuses on important parts of this well-beloved that The Karate Kid failed to bring into the picture.
In an interview with USA Today about the series, Heald said, "The really rewarding thing for us when setting up the show and continuing to write the show is that a lot of the themes in that movie are just very universal in terms of bullying, in terms of personal connection, coming of age, overcoming personal obstacles, finding mentorship where you least expect to find it. And all of those transformative and big kind of moments in your life were as true and as poignant in 1984 as they are today, so it never felt like a dated property to us."
The series brings a fresh perspective of the beloved movie, that of Johnny Lawrence - how he felt upon losing the championship, with all of the pressure that it entailed.
"While staying 100 percent true to the (franchise), we liked the idea of looking back and realizing, ‘You know what? We were only following one perspective,'" said Schlossberg. "And maybe, had we been following Johnny’s perspective, we would have felt differently at the end of the tournament."
Shot in Atlanta, GA, Cobra Kai is a must-watch for all those who love to see two sides to every story, and for those who want to relive the memories of first watching the iconic Karate Kid.
Season 3 of the series is likely to release in 2021.