The glory of love is alive and well in the world of Cobra Kai. After a long delay where the show went from YouTube to Netflix and became a fan favorite all over again, the first trailer for the highly anticipated third season is here. And in it, we see the return of two familiar faces from a certain international sequel.
Yes, Cobra Kai season three sees Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) back in Okinawa, Japan—and now we know he’ll meet up with his former flame Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) and rival Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) on the trip. It’s The Karate Kid Part II all over again and we can’t wait!
Oh also, Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) is trying to recover, Johnny (William Zabka) has lost Cobra Kai to Kreese (Martin Kove), and is Robbie (Tanner Buchanan) in jail? There’s much going on here. Check it out.
We here at io9 have been champions of Cobra Kai since it first aired, but in recent months, Jill has told me some people have asked her “Why is io9 covering Cobra Kai? That’s not sci-fi!” Which, admittedly, is a fair point. But anyone who loves the stuff we love here—Star Wars, Doctor Who, Steven Universe—all manner of smart, complex, sometimes cheesy pop culture is probably a fan of The Karate Kid. It’s all those things and more, just without the spaceships. Plus watching Cobra Kai delivers such huge dose of nostalgia. Take all those things together, and take into account its remarkable overall quality, and you begin to get why I push really hard to bend the rules a bit and get the word out there.
Plus, let’s be honest. It feels more like fantasy than reality that the show has been this good for three seasons and counting. There’s gotta be some magic dust on it somewhere. It’s almost too good to be true.
That journey continues on January 8 when season three debuts on Netflix, and season four is already in the works.
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