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Usually, when a new season of Netfli’x Cobra Kai comes around, we already know who the villain is going to be. The series has done a masterful job of leaving a healthy amount of breadcrumbs at the end of each season to tee up the next antagonist. Season 6, the show’s final, is different, though.
At the end of Season 5, good prevailed. The villains were defeated, and the San Fernando Valley was seemingly safe from nefarious karate practitioners who enjoyed punching and kicking their rivals. Seemingly, even Sensei Kreese (Martin Kove), who has been a thorn in Daniel LaRusso’s side since the first Karate Kid film. So what happens now? That’s the question GameSpot had when visiting the set of the show’s final season.
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“Where we are at the beginning of Season 6 is a unique place for Cobra Kai, co-creator Josh Heald explained to a small group of press. “The events of Season 5 kind of saw the end of all villainy, the end of the antagonists, the defeat of Terry Silver–Kreese notwithstanding. He’s in the wind. But it’s the first time and a long time–the first time since Season 1–that you’re not beginning with the pot already on boil and multiple characters who need to crush each other or a deal of ‘we’ll see you at the tournament and we’ll settle all scores there.’ It’s finally a moment of ‘the air is clear.'”
What does that mean for our favorite karate-loving teens? Now they have to figure out why they care so much about the fight and, ultimately, if it’s worth it as their high-school careers come to a close.
That’s where the legendary Sekai Taikai karate tournament comes in. As you’ve no doubt seen in the trailers, the major thrust of the season is seeing the combined dojo led by Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka) take part in the world’s premiere karate tournament against the best of the best from around the globe. And, somehow, Kreese. Again.
Honestly, it’s hard to imagine Cobra Kai without the dojo’s original sensei. He makes it so easy to take glee in hating the character, even after learning of his tragic backstory. If Cobra Kai, as a whole, though, has done anything, it’s redeemed those we once thought irredeemable.
Johnny Lawrence was one of the biggest and nastiest villains of the ’80s. Now, he’s the hero. With that in mind, is there redemption for Sensei Kreese? Certainly it’s something Heald and his co-creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg want us to think.
“It’s fun to bring Kreese to the brink of redemption,” Heald said with a smile. “And it really was, in Season 5 to have him go on that spirit journey and to have him lean into his younger self and to kind of be haunted by the ghosts of the past and to seemingly hit this point of absolute, laying bare his soul. And then you realize that it’s all one more game from a guy who is looking for revenge.”
While it’s true that Kreese had the audience thinking he might be turning a new page in Season 5, it ended up all being a ploy to help him escape prison. That said, viewers have seen the amount of trauma he faced in his younger years, from the death of the love of his life, to his experiences at war–including being made to fight to the death against his fellow soldiers.
After galvanizing himself against the world for so long, it might seem like all hope is lost for Kreese–especially with him on the run from the law after the aforementioned prison escape. Don’t give up hope yet.
“The fact that he’s capable of even exploring the idea of his own redemption or his own regret, even while being manipulative, should give you just at least a hint of the the colors that we like to play with that character–the idea of Kreese’s redemption and is that possible,” Heald continued. “Is he a tragic character, or is he a tragic character who’s capable of one last good turn is something that you’ll have to wait and see how we handle that in Season 6, but it’s something that we’ve been thinking about for a long time and how to how to bring that character in for a landing either way.”
Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 1 drops releases Thursday on Netflix.
