Karate Kid Spin-Offs We Want To See After Cobra Kai

Spoilers for “Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 3 to follow.

Prior to “Cobra Kai” tapping out with its final season, one of the show’s creators, Hayden Schlossberg, admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that he and his fellow creatives were exploring the idea of a spinoff series that reveals the untold history of legendary “Karate Kid” sensei Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). While nothing is set in stone just yet, it certainly seems like the gears are turning to ensure that the world of “Cobra Kai” strikes back in the future with a brand-new tale or two. The most important question to consider, however, is exactly which “Cobra Kai” characters deserve to be revisited down the line.

Mind you, every risky new venture comes with the opportunity to not only shift the tone but also move the larger franchise in a different direction. Just look at how “The Karate Kid” changed course with “Cobra Kai,” a show that played Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) life more for laughs. Battle tactics could change once again if and when we get a “Cobra Kai” spinoff down the line (something Netflix would no doubt be keen on). A show about the early years of Mr. Miyagi, for example, could hit a little harder, given the secrets that were revealed about him in the final season of “Cobra Kai.” Likewise, Johnny’s mindset has changed dramatically now that he’s a family man and no longer actively comparing his life to “Top Gun” or “Rocky.” So, keeping that in mind, here’s our list of the “Cobra Kai” spinoff shows we want to see the most (and the characters who would be perfect to lead them).

Fans might feel cheated initially if this happened, given the message that’s been hammered home regarding the finality of “Cobra Kai.” Nevertheless, there’s every reason for a new class to get some attention after the reopening of the titular school in the show’s finale. Granted, some series in the past have tried to reboot themselves with an all-new cast and have died a quick death (we’re looking at you, “Scrubs: Interns”). But this franchise sled has been pulled by underdogs since its inception, and if there’s anyone that can keep it moving, it’s the character that revived it in the first place: Johnny Lawrence.

After learning some personal lessons just in time to begin a new life as the father of a newly formed family, Johnny has more responsibility now than ever and has welcomed it like the hero he is. With that in mind, it’d be great to see the now-balanced sensei of Cobra Kai struggling with not just applying a newer and more positive mentality to his dojo’s name, but also potentially going it alone without Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) by his side.

A new year at Cobra Kai could also allow students that were dealt a bad hand during the show’s finale to get a second shot. With characters like Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), Samantha (Mary Mouser), Robbie (Tanner Buchanan), and Tory (Peyton List) moving on, the likes of Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young) and Devon (Oona O’Brien) could become Johnny’s new model students that take the torch and pass it onto others ready to learn the way of the cobra and the meaning of “QUIET!”

While the show’s heart was in the right place visiting the legacy of Mr. Miyagi in its final season, using a dead-eyed AI iteration of the late Pat Morita in “Cobra Kai” was not the way to go. The man and his big, dark secret deserved better than that, and a spinoff focused on the earlier, unexplored years in his life could exactly what the doctor ordered. Luckily, “Cobra Kai” Season 6 has already set the stage for just that.

As “Cobra Kai” co-creator Jon Hurwitz told Screen Rant (regarding the fly-catching legend), “He was in [WWII], this is somebody who had a lot of life experience beyond teenage karate tournaments in the Valley, and his life was complicated. Whatever happened at the Sekai Taikai in the past is something that, as of right now, we only know a little bit about. Perhaps we’ll learn more about it as time goes on.”

The best way to learn more is to have a daring new talent take on the mantle of Miyagi and tell the story before and after his fateful turn during the Seikai Taikai. Such a tragedy could also pave the way for a harder, tougher, and potentially edgier tale revealing how Miyagi became the peaceful but powerful teacher seen in “The Karate Kid.” We’ve watched others wax on and off for decades, so it only feels right that Miyagi himself should get a turn.

There were a handful of “Cobra Kai” characters that perhaps didn’t get as much time in the spotlight as fans might’ve liked, and chief among them was another of Daniel LaRusso’s former foes turned best friends, Chozen Toguchi. Yuji Okumoto warmed viewers’ hearts as the fish out of water, who flourished as essentially the muscle of the Cobra Kai team. As a result, seeing him finding peace and love in the briefest of moments at the show’s end was expected and enjoyable but far less than he deserved.

So, what better way to correct that than with a spinoff showing Chozen starting a new chapter in his life, either by visiting or teaching alongside his newfound love, Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim), as she mentors her new dojo? With Chozen and Kim having already displayed a ridiculous amount of romantic chemistry in the final season of “Cobra Kai,” a spinoff series could provide more time for this couple to be together, potentially fighting off enemies who were former students of Kim’s now-abandoned methods and are enraged by the new direction their old school is going in. Is that a stretch for a story? Potentially. But Okumoto has already transformed Chozen from the one-note villain he was in “The Karate Kid Part II” into the charismatic and undeniably hilarious hero seen in “Cobra Kai,” so it’s high time he carved out a corner of this franchise for himself (and poured some gasoline on a brand-new fire while he’s at it).

Oscar nominee Paul Walter Hauser is absolutely the under-appreciated MVP of “Cobra Kai” thanks to his turn as “Stringray,” the karate-loving manchild with atrocious facial hair. The character would frequently drop in to lighten the mood whenever things got a bit too serious and eye-rollingly silly on “Cobra Kai,” and having him turn up at the end of the show as the morning class sensei at the new dojo was a treat. A Stingray-centered spinoff, however, could let the laughs absolutely fly.

Just imagine the “Cobra Kai” universe getting a mockumentary-style show about Hauser’s character, complete with talking heads of Stingray being left to his own devices (along with his students and even their parents, who could chime in every now and then about the sensei’s questionable methods). Up to this point, Stingray has been a Dwight Schrute-like presence in this franchise, albeit one that “Cobra Kai” would use to throw a comical punch that didn’t always land. But make him the star attraction, with Johnny and possibly other “Cobra Kai” characters occasionally stopping by to check in on him, and we could actually have a genuinely funny sitcom on our hands. It would not only make for a very different show from “Cobra Kai,” but it would also be a series that could easily poke fun at both itself and the show that spawned it.

“Cobra Kai” is now streaming in its entirety on Netflix.