Cobra Kai's creators teased that fans of the Karate Kid franchise might see some familiar faces in season 5. Cobra Kai is an American martial arts comedy series that premiered on May 2nd, 2018. The series is a spin-off of the Karate Kid franchise and follows Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) 34-years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament. Cobra Kai sees the Cobra Kai dojo reopened by Lawrence, prompting LaRusso to open his own dojo, Miyagi-do. When Cobra Kai is taken over once more by the notorious John Kreese (Martin Kove), Lawrence and LaRusso must form an alliance to take him down.
A lot of Cobra Kai's popularity stems from its close ties to the Karate Kid franchise. Original Karate Kid stars Macchio, Zabka, Kove, and Thomas Ian Griffith (Terry Silver) have all become series regulars. Meanwhile, the series has boasted numerous guest appearances from Karate Kid characters including Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto), Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue), Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita), Yuna (Traci Toguchi), Tommy (Rob Garrison), and many more. Cobra Kai season 4's ending teased that Chozen will be elevated to a series regular in season 5, as well.
As reported by Deadline, Cobra Kai's creators have teased Karate Kid cameos in season 5. At this years Producers Guild of America Awards, Cobra Kai's co-creator Jon Hurwitz spoke briefly about season 5. He indicated that season 5 is going to have a lot of insanity, considering that no one except for the creators knows exactly where the series is headed next. Hurwitz also teased that fans of the Karate Kid franchise might see some familiar faces, or they might not. Check out his statement below:
Season 4 everyone knew that we were heading toward a tournament — Season 5, no one knows where we are headed. We do, because we already made it. There’s a lot of insanity; if you’re a fan of the franchise, maybe some familiar faces show up, maybe not; there’s going to be a lot of karate.
While Hurwitz's comment on cameos is cryptic, it would be surprising for there to not be any Karate Kid cameos in Cobra Kai season 5. Thus far, every season of Cobra Kai has boasted at least 2 or more guest appearances from returning Karate Kid stars. Meanwhile, there are certainly endless opportunities for such appearances to occur. At the end of Cobra Kai season 4, Silver indicated he could dig up an "old friend" to help him run Cobra Kai. Many took this as a reference to Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), Silver's old pal who was considered LaRusso's greatest foe. Barnes has been mentioned multiple times in Cobra Kai, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him finally appear in season 5. With Silver's return, fans have also been expecting the return of Snake (Jonathan Avildsen) a troublemaker who was pleased to do Silver's bidding in Karate Kid III.
Overall, there are many opportunities for more familiar faces to pop up in Cobra Kai season 5. Chozen's close ties to Karate Kid II and Silver's background in Karate Kid III means more characters from those two films will have the opportunity to appear. Meanwhile, Macchio has even said a Hilary Swank cameo could work, possibly opening a doorway for The Next Karate Kid characters to appear, as well. With such an expansive franchise behind it and with how much success Cobra Kai has gained, viewers can almost expect to see some Karate Kid cameos in season 5.
Source: Deadline