The creators of Netflix’s Karate Kid sequel/spin-off series Cobra Kai have been chatting about the series as well as wanting to make a Mr Miyagi focused prequel.
Cobra Kai, Netflix’s The Karate Kid spin-off series, is currently in the middle of its sixth and final season. The series will conclude sometime in 2025 when the final part of the concluding season will be released, so there’s still plenty of Cobra Kai still to watch.
The creators of the series, Hayden Schlossberg, Josh Heald and Jon Hurwitz, chatted about the series with The Hollywood Reporter, and revealed that they would love to explore the world of The Karate Kid even more, especially the character of Mr Miyagi.
Pat Morita’s iconic character appears in the series via archive footage, but the creators are interested in expanding the character’s past. When The Hollywood Reporter asked them if they’ve thought of doing any more spin-offs from the 1984 film, the answer was a resounding yes – and they added that one of the reasons Mr Miyagi appears in the latest series, is to open the door for more.
“It opens up all these questions about Mr Miyagi and what his life was like, and that’s been something we’ve been wanting to do for a while,” Schlossberg said. “We’ve talked to Robert Mark Kamen, the writer of the original Karate Kid who based this whole movie off his sensei who studied Okinawan karate; we’ve been talking about all this Miyagi backstory with him, which helped us with season six stuff. Now that we’re done, we can actually start getting into this stuff.”
Schlossberg went on to emphasise that they’re fully focused on delivering the last episodes of Cobra Kai first, but once they’re out of the way, they’re hoping to move forward with another spin-off.
“As we’re finishing [Cobra Kai] up, we’ll see exactly what path we take in terms of spinoffs, but it is definitely something that we’ve been wanting to do,” he said.
Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita was nominated for an Oscar for his turn as Daniel LaRusso’s mentor, and the scene in which he drunkenly recalls his wife’s internment in a concentration camp for Japanese Americans is the most moving in the entire film. If the spin-off series delves this far back into Mr Miyagi’s history, then it could be a much more sombre affair than Cobra Kai.
It’s still early days for the Mr Miyagi show, but considering how popular Cobra Kai has been, Netflix might be keen on continuing the partnership with Schlossberg, Hurwitz and Heald. We’ll make sure to keep you updated if the project moves forward more officially.
