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At a glance, it may seem surprising that Netflix’s new action-comedy series Obliterated is from the same guys responsible for the long-running hit Cobra Kai. After all, Cobra Kai is about teenagers learning karate, adults coming to terms with the misdeeds of their youth, and plenty of ’80s nostalgia. Obliterated, on the other hand, is filled with sex, drugs, alcohol, explosions, psychedelic trips, and the threat of a nuclear apocalypse. Put plainly, it’s a far more graphic and “grown up” show than the teen-facing Karate Kid companion series. However, it’s actually a very familiar comfort zone for showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald.
Before the trio pitched Cobra Kai to be made, they were actually rather successful in the world of raunchy R-rated films. Hurwitz and Schlossberg were the writers behind the Harold & Kumar films, before they teamed with Heald to write both Hot Tub Time Machine films. So, if anything, Obliterated is their way of going home again, after several years writing for teenage characters. Still, the change was a shock to the system, at first.
“It was like going off of an extreme diet and just eating like all the fast food and comfort food that you would want, because we come from that R-rated world,” Schlossberg explained. “We love comedy that pushes the envelope. Working on Cobra Kai, that tone doesn’t really play into the Karate Kid universe. So we don’t use that part of our brains when we write Cobra Kai.”
And while Obliterated certainly pushes that envelope in almost every conceivable way, it makes sense in the world of this series. The same cannot be said for Cobra Kai, though Schlossberg is quick to admit the experience of Cobra Kai has certainly influenced the way the story of Obliterated unfolds.
“We’ve taken a lot from Cobra Kai in terms of shooting action sequences and character work over the course of seasons.”
Ultimately, though, as Schlossberg puts it, wrapping up Season 5 of Cobra Kai while knowing Obliterated was on the horizon left them feeling like they were “binging out favorite comfort food.” It just turns out their favorite comfort food is a raunchy show about a bunch of government operatives attempting to find and deactivate a nuclear weapon–while they’re all drunk and stoned out of their minds.
Obliterated hits Netflix on November 30.
