The original plan for The Karate Kid Part III was very different from the actual movie, and it would have led to an also different Cobra Kai series. Perhaps the best example of how to reboot a franchise while also honoring the original with the right amount of nostalgia (and a healthy dose of respect for the original Karate Kid timeline), Cobra Kai is setting a new high for remakes, sequels, and reboots of iconic sagas. Still, Cobra Kai’s most impressive feat was not just continuing the story of pop culture classic The Karate Kid – it was combining the stories of the far less successful The Karate Kid Part II and The Karate Kid Part III into the show as well.
Whereas franchises like Terminator and Halloween will often ignore one or more movies that did not quite work in order to reboot the series once again, Cobra Kai welcomed Karate Kid 2 and Karate Kid 3 into its universe, and it made the Karate Kid sequels as important to the show as the first movie. For example, the stories of Chozen and Terry Silver in Cobra Kai season 5 work much better for those who have seen Karate Kid 2 and Karate Kid 3. In fact, Cobra Kai is not only acknowledging the Karate Kid sequels – it is making them better. That said, as the final Ralph Macchio Karate Kid movie, The Karate Kid Part III could have led to a very different Cobra Kai had it followed the original plan of featuring Johnny Lawrence and not Terry Silver.
Karate Kid 3 Almost Didn’t Feature Terry Silver
Terry Silver as a character perfectly summarizes Karate Kid 3 – Silver was supposed to be a serious, manipulative antagonist, yet he comes off almost as a Bond villain parody. From secret laughs behind a wall to mocking Mr. Miyagi in a fight, Terry Silver was the most unpredictable, over-the-top Karate Kid villain by a large margin – and that is something Cobra Kai acknowledges. Instead of completely rewriting Terry Silver into a more “believable” character, Cobra Kai referenced Silver’s inexplicable actions in 1989 and made the villain as unpredictable as he was during the events of The Karate Kid Part III. However, Karate Kid 3 almost did not feature Terry Silver.
During an interview with Looper, John Kreese actor Martin Kove, who starred in the original The Karate Kid and returned for The Karate Kid Part III, revealed that Kreese was supposed to be the only villain in the third installment. Kove noted that there was not a Terry Silver in the original Karate Kid 3 script – it was John Kreese alone who would try to get revenge on Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi. However, Kove had just signed for a TV series at CBS, and the Karate Kid 3 director John Avildsen was worried that Kove’s schedule would not be enough to shoot all the necessary John Kreese scenes. That is why Terry Silver, John Kreese’s old friend and founder of Cobra Kai, was created.
Terry Silver’s Creation Was Paid Off (30 Years Later)
From a replacement character to Cobra Kai’s main villain, Terry Silver had an interesting journey in the Karate Kid universe. Compared to the emotional weight of the final fight between Johnny and Daniel in The Karate Kid, Terry Silver’s plans in The Karate Kid Part III were not easy to be taken seriously. Terry Silver was written as almost the exact opposite of John Kreese in the first movie, and some Silver moments ended up being way too funny for a movie in which Daniel LaRusso’s life was supposed to be at stake. Essentially, a 30-year-old millionaire plotting revenge against a kid over a regional karate tournament would always lead to an unintentionally funny movie.
The Karate Kid Part III was just not as good as the original. Still, Cobra Kai had already proved it could reinvent the entire Karate Kid saga and not just the first movie. Cobra Kai season 1 name-dropped Terry Silver and Mike Barnes, and Cobra Kai season 3 gave Silver a complete backstory. By the time Kreese makes a call to Silver at the end of Cobra Kai season 3, those who had seen Karate Kid 3 were already excited to see what Cobra Kai would do with the Thomas Ian Griffith character. Terry Silver’s return was Cobra Kai season 4’s first scene, and Cobra Kai season 5 was very much a Terry Silver story. More than 30 years after The Karate Kid Part III, Terry Silver’s creation was paid off.
William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence Was Considered For Karate Kid 3
William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence, arguably Cobra Kai’s main character, saw his story end in the first Karate Kid. Daniel LaRusso’s bully and karate rival, Johnny Lawrence, was as iconic as the “karate kid” himself, yet William Zabka never returned for any of the Karate Kid sequels. Johnny Lawrence did appear at the beginning of The Karate Kid Part II, but that portion of the movie was supposed to be in the first Karate Kid but ended up being cut. From Daniel and Mr. Miyagi’s Okinawa trip to the fight against Mike Barnes in the All Valley, the Karate Kid sequels simply do not acknowledge Johnny Lawrence. As such, the only link between The Karate Kid Part III and the original movie was John Kreese.
However, according to William Zabka (via WTF with Marc Maron), The Karate Kid Part III director John Avildsen spoke with him about Johnny Lawrence's possible being in the third movie. Zabka was open to playing Johnny Lawrence again, yet they were not able to fit Johnny into the story. In addition to John Kreese and Terry Silver, Karate Kid 3 had a third villain, Mike Barnes, the one who actually got to fight Daniel LaRusso. Instead of a personal history with Daniel like Johnny had, Mike Barnes simply wanted to fight the All Valley champion and win half of the Cobra Kai dojo as promised by Terry Silver.
Johnny Lawrence In Karate Kid 3 Would’ve Doomed Cobra Kai
As interesting as it would have been to see Johnny Lawrence in Karate Kid 3, anything showing what happened to Johnny after the events of The Karate Kid would have doomed Cobra Kai. The Cobra Kai show was designed as the answer to “What happened to Johnny Lawrence?”, and it invited audiences to revisit that world through Johnny Lawrence’s eyes. Johnny was the main character in Cobra Kai season 1, and it was now Daniel LaRusso who was the antagonist. Such a simple premise of making Johnny the hero and Daniel the antagonist was enough for Cobra Kai to justify its existence, and it led to a unique reboot series.
Had Johnny appeared in Karate Kid 3, which took place around a year after the first Karate Kid, then there would be no mystery as to what happened with Johnny after he graduated. Johnny would have received a new story in Part III - either as a friend of Daniel LaRusso or as someone seeking a rematch. The rivalry between Daniel and Johnny in Cobra Kai only works because their last interaction had been the All Valley, which would have changed had Johnny returned for The Karate Kid Part III. In a way, Cobra Kai is the direct sequel to The Karate Kid that The Karate Kid Part II and The Karate Kid Part III never got to be.