Ralph Macchio says LaRusso will head to Okinawa in Cobra Kai season 3
Cobra Kai won’t be back for its third season until 2020, but star Ralph Macchio teased what fans can expect on Thursday, live from EW’s video studio at San Diego Comic-Con. The actor told EW’s Gerrad Hall that his character, Daniel LaRusso, will be headed to Japan as he continues to work through life without his Karate Kid sensei, Mr. Miyagi (played by the legendary actor Pat Morita in the original movies).
“For season 3, something I can tease is that, albeit we have a lot of cleaning up to do based on the events of season 2, some of the stories will dive into the origins of both Miyagi-Do Karate and Cobra Kai,” Macchio explained. “Like, the beginnings of those two forms of martial arts, and we’ll learn stuff about both that we never knew. And that includes LaRusso going to Okinawa, which is a piece of season 3.”
It was always important to Macchio that Mr. Miyagi’s presence be felt on the show. And with LaRusso rebuilding Miyagi-Do in season 2 to become a sensei himself, the spirit of the character can live on, with his lessons passed on to a new generation.
“It was always important from the get-go upon hearing the initial pitch for this project to have Miyagi woven into the story and into LaRusso’s life,” Macchio said. “Whether it be something [LaRusso] needs to tap back into to find balance in his life if he’s gone off… and that stuff has all been incorporated last season.”
He continued, “In season 2, we were at Miyagi-Do Karate, so a big part of it was back at that house and that location. So it was kind of emotional to do that because a lot of the magic of that original film happened in those scenes and with that character. I think it’s important to keep that alive in the show.”
Two things no one from the cast would confirm were whether Karate Kid actress Elisabeth Shue would (finally) make an appearance on Cobra Kai, and how Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) is doing after his accident in the finale. Even without that information, it’s certain that Miguel and Johnny’s (William Zabka) relationship will never be the same.
“Personally, I don’t know too much, but I think the biggest thing is the relationship between Miguel and Johnny,” Maridueña said. “It’s touched upon throughout the first and second season, and seeing how that will be affected by the events that happened in the last episode, and it’s something to look forward to. And things were going pretty well between for Miguel’s mom and Johnny up until the last episode, so I guess we can tune in for that too.”
Watch the full interview, also featuring costars Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Martin Kove, and Tanner Buchanan, above.
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