There are just some thing you don’t expect to happen. Another season of Firefly, Michael Bay making a movie not littered with explosions, and a continuation of the Karate Kid. And yet, here we are in 2018, getting that last one with the first footage of Cobra Kai.
For those of you who don’t remember, or are too young to have seen the original film, Karate Kid followed young Daniel, moving from New Jersey to California, who takes karate lessons from Mr. Miyagi in order to fight back against his bullies, who all train at a dojo called Cobra Kai. Now, it looks like Johnny, the main antagonist, and Daniel are facing off once more as Cobra Kai re-opens.
The footage for the show features Ralph Macchio and William Zabka returning to reprise their roles as Daniel and Johnny. The rest of the cast includes Courtney Henggeler, Mary Mouser, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, and Ed Asner. The series will run for 10 episodes.
In an era of remakes, reboots, and re-imaginings, it’s nice to see a simple continuation of story. It’s still banking on that sweet 1980s nostalgia that fuels a solid portion of the pop culture market nowadays, but at least it’s bringing it forward rather than staying stuck.
While I’m not sure the story of Karate Kid needs anymore lore — between four sequels, a reboot, and an animated TV show — it’s a smart move on YouTube Red’s part. After all, the service has been relying heavily on YouTube content creators to take charge to middling success. Taking a franchise people already love and adding more to the story will bring eyes, and some dollars, to the relatively new service.
Cobra Kai will premiere on YouTube Red sometime in late 2018.
