Cobra Kai Season 4: How Much Longer Will Netflix Let The Show Go?
Here is everything we know about Cobra Kai season 4.
This article is more than 2 years old
Cobra Kai was popular on YouTube in years prior but became a big win for Netflix when they picked up the first two seasons in mid-2020. Many fans watched the entire third season in one sitting as soon as it was released and immediately began asking for season 4. After a binge-watch like that, you need to know everything there is to know about what’s next. Luckily, we do know there will be a Cobra Kai Season 4, so fans can relax. Let’s dive into what we can expect moving forward.
When To Expect Cobra Kai Season 4
In October 2020, it was announced that Cobra Kai Season 4 was happening. Only a few days later on October 23rd, writer Jon Hurwitz tweeted that the scripts for season 4 were completed.
Filming seemed to have begun in late February of 2021 and concluded on April 30th, 2021, as was speculated for an expected timeline. In a tweet to a fan, Jon Hurwitz said that filming for Cobra Kai Season 4 would begin in January 2021. Further supporting this timeline, Martin Kove (who plays John Kreese) told YouTuber Cobra Kai Kid that he was ready to get on set January 20, 2021. While the pandemic has complicated many production timelines in 2020, it is expected that filming will wrap in April 2021.
Ralph Macchio told The New York Times that Netflix wasn’t allowing the cast or crew to give public updates, but enough came out to suggest this is an accurate timeline. Martin Kove updated his Instagram indicating filming was done at the end of April, 2021.
So when can we expect to see Cobra Kai Season 4 hit Netflix? Jon Hurwitz has said that he expects a release date roughly one year after season three. This would mean a release around the beginning of January 2022. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen. It is set to go up on the streamer on New Year’s Day, with the entire season going on the streamer at once, as Netflix is wont to do.
The Cast
You can expect to see the main cast return for Cobra Kai season 4.
But what about the newcomers? For example, will we see Elisabeth Shue (Ali) return? While there’s no guarantee and she was only briefly in the third season, fans are expecting it. So far, we’ve seen her briefly interact with Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence (her former love interests) and it’s expected those moments will continue into Cobra Kai season 4. We also recently saw Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) from the movie Karate Kid Part II. It’s less clear whether these two will return or not. Fans who have already seen the big finale for season 3 are expecting we’ll be seeing Terry Silver return.
Fortunately, in late May 2021, Terry Silver’s return for Cobra Kai season 4 was finally confirmed. You can see the Thomas Ian Griffith confirm it himself in the Twitter update below.
Netflix followed that up with an official teaser video for the character, since they know just how much this was an ask from fans of the series.
One big and persistent casting question fans have revolved around Hilary Swank. She played Julie Pierce in the Karate Kid movies. She was recently in a canceled television series on Netflix, so there’s a connection to the studio. Could she make her way to Cobra Kai season 4? Writer Jon Hurwitz has only made teasing comments about this possibility. He told Cinema Blend, “In our writers’ room we speak about literally every character that has appeared in the Miyagi-verse, so it’s obvious that we’ve spoken about Julie Pierce. As to whether or not she’ll return to the series, that’s something you’ll just have to wait to find out.” While this statement hints that it’s possible, it doesn’t suggest they’ve ever spoken to Hilary Swank. At this point in the storyline, it may be too early for her character to appear. We’ll have to wait and see.
Some fans of the first two seasons were disappointed to see Aisha Robinson wasn’t in season 3. The character had an interesting arc with bullying in the first two seasons. The writers decided not to pull her story into the third season, disappointing some fans. While some have suggested she might return, and the actress has publicly said she wants the work, production hasn’t said if she has a part in Cobra Kai season 4.
This season will also add Dallas Dupree Young and Oona O’Brien to the cast.
The Story
While not a lot has been said about the plot, it’s expected that the big events of the Season 3 finale will lead right into Cobra Kai Season 4. We just saw Lawrence and LaRusso teaming up against John Kreese. With Terry Silver returning, could he be pairing up with Kreese to take on Lawrence and LaRusso next season?
The 51st All-Valley Karate Tournament will play a big part in Cobra Kai season 4. And the early looks at some posters show as much. Check out some of the posters in which the tournament is clearly mentioned:
So far we’ve seen that the writers are big fans of pulling in elements from the movies. The show has focused on moving forward with fresh stories while bringing in elements of the past for fans of the movies. The timeline will keep moving forward in Cobra Kai Season 4. We can expect to see more familiar faces from the Karate Kid movies added to the cast list, which will give us more hints on the plot as time goes on.
With the return of Thomas Ian Griffith and the All-Valley tournament becoming a major plot point, we are getting so many great callbacks to the original set of movies. Plus, Schlossberg has also said there will be more musical montages and even longer episodes. In this respect, the show just gets it, especially when it comes to paying lip service to fans.
Cobra Kai Season 5
You can’t talk about Cobra Kai season 4 without wondering if there will be a season 5. Jon Hurwitz told Cinema Blend, “We have plans beyond that. We haven’t had firm discussions with Netflix as to when the series will end but we have expressed that if on their end there is a period of time where they’re like ‘It’s about enough of this Cobra Kai business,’ to give us a heads up so that we can wrap things up appropriately.”
This sounds like he isn’t sure about the future beyond Cobra Kai season 4, but like he expects season 5 to be likely. With the show being such a hit for Netflix, that sounds like a safe bet.
