For the past two years, fans have been sweeping legs and getting body bags in the continuing adventures of The Karate Kid franchise called Cobra Kai. Seasons one and two were released in spring 2018 and 2019, respectively, but with summer quickly approaching, there hasn’t been a peep about the close-to-complete, partially-set-in-Okinawa third season. Now we know why.
Deadline reports that the show is currently in the process of finding a new streaming service. The first two seasons were on YouTube and YouTube was planning on releasing the third season as well. However, the site reportedly told the Cobra Kai team it didn’t plan on renewing the show for another season after that (probably because Cobra Kai was one of the final relics of YouTube’s foray into original content) and that just wasn’t going to cut it. No mercy.
YouTube and the Cobra Kai team went into negotiations and eventually agreed the show could be shopped to other streamers—specifically, one that would agree to further seasons if the third outing is a success. Now, apparently, those talks have occurred and it seems like either Hulu or Netflix is likely to land the show.
Via Twitter, io9 reached out to one of Cobra Kai’s creators, Jon Hurwitz, but he was unable to comment at this time.
The Deadline piece adds that it wasn’t difficult to find a place willing to stream Cobra Kai, especially during a pandemic. “The strong interest in Cobra Kai by other streamers was fueled, at least in part, by the death of high-end scripted programming coming down the pike as the Hollywood production shutdown is well into its third month. A finished season of a popular title with [a] built-in audience is considered a hot commodity in the current environment,” Deadline writes.
And so now, fans of crane kicks and being the best...around must patiently wait to find out where the highly anticipated third season of Cobra Kai will land.
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