Cobra Kai

Cobra Kai is an American television series created by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. It premiered in 2018 on YouTube Red, later moved to YouTube Premium, and from 2021 it was released by Netflix. It ended in 2025 after six seasons and 65 episodes. The series follows the 1984 film The Karate Kid and its two sequels. It returns to the karate tournament from that film and rewrites the story from the point of view of Johnny Lawrence, again played by William Zabka. Daniel LaRusso is once more portrayed by Ralph Macchio. At the heart of the series is a clash of three approaches to karate, embodied by three dojo: the aggressive Cobra Kai, the defence-oriented Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang. All three schools are fictional and none is a real style of karate. Both leading actors practise martial arts themselves: Macchio karate, Zabka tang soo do and karate. The stunt scenes were coordinated by Hiro Koda, and in later seasons by Ken Barefield. We did not find a source that would also name Koda as fight choreographer.

Martial arts in this work

Fact and fiction

Cobra Kai, Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang are karate schools invented for the film series and the television series; no real style of that name exists. The difference between them in the series is philosophical: Cobra Kai is built on aggression, Miyagi-Do on defence. The lead actors, however, really do practise martial arts. Before filming the 1984 movie, Ralph Macchio trained in Okinawan Goju-ryu, and in April 2025 he earned a black belt. William Zabka began training only after being cast in the original film and reached the second green belt in tang soo do. Since returning to the role of Johnny Lawrence he has trained karate and tang soo do regularly.

People and martial arts

• Ralph MacchioActor — as Daniel LaRusso· Karate (real practitioner)
• William ZabkaActor — as Johnny Lawrence· Tang Soo Do (real practitioner)
• Hiro KodaStunt coordinator
• Ken BarefieldStunt coordinator

Series

Details

Status

Completed

Seasons

6

Episodes

65

First published / aired

YouTube Red