‘Cobra Kai’ to End With Three-Part Roundhouse Into Next Year

The teaser for the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai depicts white belts practicing, kids in street clothes punching what looks like tennis balls, and Ralph Macchio showing absolutely no shame as he recites the cringe-inducing phrase, “Love the smell of karate in the afternoon.” Despite this, his character, original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso, is able to pull it together long enough to face off with his decades-old nemesis Johnny Lawrence (actor William Zabka) previewing the feud at the heart of the series.

The season’s 15 episodes, which Netflix bills as the show’s grand finale, will arrive on the streaming service in three batches. The first arrives July 18, the second will debut on Nov. 28, and it will all wrap up next year.

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The season picks up where the last left off, with Cobra Kai eliminated from the Valley and the senseis and students deciding if and how they’d compete in the karate world championships. “Cobra Kai is back,” proclaims actor Martin Kove, who plays the cigar-chomping John Kreese.

In addition to Macchio, Zabka, and Kove, who starred together in 1984’s The Karate Kid, season six will see the return of Cobra Kai regulars Xolo Maridueña, Jacob Bertrand, Mary Mouser, Tanner Buchanan, and others.

“Our Day 1 goal with Cobra Kai has always been to end it on our terms, leaving the Valley in the time and place we’ve always imagined,” Cobra Kai executive producers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg wrote in a statement posted to Tudum. “So it is with immense pride and thankfulness that we are able to announce that achievement. … While this may be a bittersweet day for the fandom, the Miyagiverse has never been stronger.”

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