Note: There are spoilers for “Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 1 below
The Miyagi-do competitors selected to compete in the Sekai Taikai tournament should expect a new level of competition for “Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 2.
Part 1 of the final season ended with Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka) arriving in Spain for the international karate tourney with their six selected fighters: Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), Sam (Mary Mouser), Robby (Tanner Buchanan), Hawk (Jacob Bertrand), Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo), and Devon (Oona O’Brien).
Series executive producers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg told TheWrap all of Miyagi-Do is facing a whole new caliber of competition from the Valley eco-system they’re used to.
“You’re going to realize that Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do have been this rivalry since 1984 and that we’ve followed on our show, but you’re at a tournament from great dojos all over the world,” Hurwitz said. “So you’re going to meet new characters that’ll be new rivals and new senseis that’ll be new rivals. Everything is taken up a notch.”
He continued, “Our students are at a time when there’s more conflict internally within this team than at the start of the season. They’re entering this tournament with the biggest obstacles they’ve ever had.”
Hurwitz said designing the Sekai Taikai was some of the most fun the writers’ room had when breaking the final season. The goal was to make it feel more dangerous and varied than what fans had seen at the All-Valley tournaments.
“I would say that designing the Sekai Taikai was some of the most fun we’ve had in the writers’ room,” he said. “We loved the idea of being free of some of the rules of the All-Valley tournament to make this world tournament anything that it can be. We wanted it to feel bigger, we wanted it to feel more dangerous. The competition is not just within the Valley, it’s the best karate students from all over the world.”
Much of Season 6 Part 1 dealt with the dojo preparing for the tournament, but it’s far from the only thing. Daniel discovered a chest of Mr. Miyagi’s under the floorboards. Inside the chest was a newspaper clipping hinting that maybe Miyagi committed a crime and a passport suggesting he changed his name. Schlossberg told TheWrap there wasn’t any stress tinkering with the beloved character’s backstory because they viewed him as “human.”
“There wasn’t stress because, at the end of the day, we believe that Mr. Miyagi was a human being and that human beings aren’t perfect,” he said. “It’s the version we see as children that is the one we revere the most and has the most authority.
Schlossberg continued, “If you saw Mr. Miyagi on his worst day at 14 or at 27, he may be a guy who didn’t internalize the lessons he teaches later in life until he experienced his own journey. We felt there probably are things, whether it’s a skeleton in the closet or just something you’re not proud of, and the question was what were those things and how did they affect how you view him as a character.”
“Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 2 debuts on Netflix November 15.