Cobra Kai season 3 could see the unthinkable happen: Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) becoming the sensei of Miyagi-Do Karate. Johnny has spent his life bleeding the black and yellow of Cobra Kai but at the end of Cobra Kai season 2, Lawrence learned that his sinister sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove) stole the dojo away from Johnny. This betrayal, coupled with his grief over the tragic injury to his beloved student Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena), led to Johnny turning his back on Cobra Kai. Could Sensei Lawrence's next steps lead him to take over Daniel LaRusso's (Ralph Macchio) dojo?
Johnny has defined himself against Daniel since they were teenagers competing at the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championship and over Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue). Daniel has thrived as the hero of The Karate Kid movie saga, and in Cobra Kai, he's proven to be a successful businessman with a loving wife and family. Meanwhile, Johnny never saw anything close to that kind of success, but he found a road to redemption when he resurrected Cobra Kai and installed himself as sensei. Starting with Miguel, whom he gradually molded into his best student and into a fellow All Valley Karate Champion, Johnny had tremendous success turning teenagers he considered to be "nerds" into capable karate students.
Related: Cobra Kai Season 2's Biggest Unanswered Questions
The events of Cobra Kai season 2's finale changed everything for Johnny. Between what happened to Miguel, which Diaz's mother Carmen (Vanessa Rubio) blames Johnny for, to Kreese stabbing Johnny in the back, Lawrence is now at a crossroads. Yet so is Daniel, who also shoulders guilt over what happened to Miguel, his daughter Samantha (Mary Mouser), and for Johnny's son Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) injuring Miguel, since he was Daniel's pupil. In spite of the cloud of doubt and tragedy hanging over his head, Johnny has proven to be a fine sensei but he's without a dojo to call his own. As unlikely as it sounds, here's why Johnny bringing his skills to Miyagi-Do makes sense for Sensei Lawrence and for Cobra Kai season 3.
Johnny Can Run The Dojo While Daniel Is In Okinawa
Daniel is heading to Okinawa in Cobra Kai season 3 in order to learn the origins of Miyagi-Do Karate and discover a secret Mr. Miyagi kept from him. Daniel's wife Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) demanded "no more karate" after what happened to Samantha and Miguel, and she was already furious with how Daniel let his obsession with Miyagi-Do negatively impact their business and marriage. And yet, Daniel can't let go of Miyagi-Do, so he could potentially ask Johnny to take over his dojo and run it while he is out of the country. This would keep Miyagi-Do alive and his students training while also allowing Daniel to keep his promise to Amanda. After all, Daniel has been known to look for loopholes and engage in subterfuge to get the results he wants.
Johnny and Daniel working together, despite their differences and lingering animosity, is something Cobra Kai has been building towards since the beginning. Although their occasional truces always seem to quickly end, Daniel and Johnny have grudgingly found they have a number of things in common, like losing their fathers at a young age and finding the father figures they needed in their karate mentors. In turn, they have both become karate father figures as well: Johnny for Miguel and Daniel for Robby. It's possible the tragedy that happened to Miguel could actually unite Johnny and Daniel since they both feel they failed their students, who became embroiled in the war that began with the two of them.
However, an even more amusing scenario would be Johnny taking advantage of the fact that Daniel is overseas and deciding to become Miyagi-Do's new sensei without LaRusso's approval. This would be a very Johnny thing to do and it would be yet another prank to play on Daniel to get under his skin. If Johnny reunites with Robby, who is on the run after he injured Miguel at West Valley High, his own son could be Johnny's "in" to Miyagi-Do (since at this point, Johnny has never even been to Mr. Miyagi's house). Daniel could then return to LA and be appalled to find his arch-enemy running his dojo and teaching his students the Way of the Fist.
Teaching Karate Is What Johnny Does Best
Johnny's slow climb to becoming a better person, and, in turn, teaching his students to be better than how he was taught by Kreese, is the core hero's journey of Cobra Kai. It's clear that Johnny is a disaster at many aspects of life but teaching Cobra Kai-style karate is the thing he's proven his best at. Johnny is actually a very good sensei and he managed to make Miguel, Aisha (Nichole Brown), and Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) fighters - and Miguel is an All Valley Champion like Johnny was. And to Johnny's credit, when he saw that Cobra Kai's "no mercy" philosophy was turning the kids into "a**holes", Sensei Lawrence changed his methods accordingly while also asking hard questions about himself and why he should also change.
John Kreese nefariously stole the Cobra Kai dojo that Johnny built from under him, and Johnny needs his own dojo to fight back and get even with his cruel old sensei. If Johnny can't have Cobra Kai once more, then becoming Miyagi-Do's sensei is the next best thing. Indeed, Lawrence running Miyagi-Do would be a real slap in the face to Kreese, who has never gotten over how Mr. Miyagi humiliated him at the start of The Karate Kid Part II. While Johnny wearing Miyagi-Do's white and bonsai tree logo would be a strange sight, Kreese would have ample reason to fear a Miyagi-Do that combines Mr. Miyagi's Okinawan defensive style with Cobra Kai brand offense.
Johnny Can Make Miyagi-Do More Bad Ass
Let's face it, Cobra Kai is just plain cooler than Miyagi-Do, as Daniel found out when he tried to get parents interested in his dojo but they all raved about Cobra Kai's performance at Valley Fest. Johnny has a certain macho swagger that's genuinely appealing and an infusion of it wouldn't hurt Miyagi-Do or Daniel's students. This isn't to say Miyagi-Do hasn't been effective, and the key to Daniel's success is rooted in Mr. Miyagi's quiet and focused defensive style, but Johnny can add the edge that's missing from Miyagi-Do Karate.
In addition, Johnny has shown he's also willing to learn and grow (as long as he stays suitably badass). Lawrence never had the benefit of studying under Mr. Miyagi but the Okinawan style of karate could help Johnny in unexpected ways, not just in the dojo but also in life. Being exposed to Miyagi-Do could help Johnny evolve as a sensei and as a person. He would still be Johnny Lawrence (nothing will really change him, nor do fans want Johnny to change) but there are gaps to Sensei Lawrence's knowledge and that Miyagi-Do could help him fill. On the flip side, Johnny could lend some of his hard-edged 80's heavy metal coolness to Mr. Miyagi's dojo in an odd-couple win/win scenario.
Daniel's Students Can Learn A Lot From Johnny (And Vice Versa)
While Sam, Demetri (Gianni Decenzo), and possibly Robby might balk at being taught by Sensei Lawrence, most of Miyagi-Do's students are Cobra Kai rejects - but they quit because of Kreese's extremist style, not because of Johnny. The thought of Johnny teaching at Miyagi-Do in Cobra Kai season 3 seems outrageous, but it's also ripe with comedic possibilities, both for Daniel's students adjusting to Johnny's style and for Sensei Lawrence reacting to Daniel's teaching methods, like the Wheel and Shochu-Geiko. Just imagine Johnny's reaction upon learning that Daniel makes his students paint his fence and wax his floors the way Mr. Miyagi taught him. But Daniel's pupils could also teach Johnny a thing or two about patience and focus, just as Miguel and the other Cobra Kai kids reached Johnny and taught him about the Internet.
In truth, Johnny becoming Miyagi-Do's sensei is probably a recipe for disaster, and that's what would make it entertaining. But it would be even more novel if somehow, Johnny at Miyagi-Do somehow does work and Daniel's students (and Johnny himself) become a hybrid of Miyagi-Do's defense and Cobra Kai's straightforward forcefulness. What's more, if Robby is at the dojo, it means Johnny can finally train his own son, which would be worth it for them both. In The Karate Kid Part III, Daniel briefly joined Cobra Kai (a fact Johnny may not be aware of). It would be an amazing balance for Johnny Lawrence, in turn, to join Miyagi-Do as a sensei. But by being at Miyagi-Do, it could also mean that, in a way, Johnny Lawrence would finally become a student of the late Mr. Miyagi as well in Cobra Kai season 3.