Cobra Kai‘s fourth season finale revealed how Terry Silver installed himself as the most dastardly karate villain of the franchise. He’d made sure that John Kreese got framed for his own (brutal) misdeeds and put behind bars for the time being. The Season 5 trailer revealed how Terry was making good on his threat to expand the Cobra Kai dojo throughout the Valley and make “no mercy” a standard for like a billion more schools.
New Season 5 stills reveal that plan in action, and front and center, you’ll see Dallas Dupree Young, who’s been promoted from bullied kid to series regular.
And meanwhile, Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence must come together for real and try to leave their egos behind, if they can.
To that end, Karate Kid II antagonist Chozen will (again) return to help the Miyagi-Do cause (and tell Silver that he’s “gasoline” to his enemy’s “fire”), and Silver’s probably going to have to deal with a little bit of opposition within his ranks. Ideally, that will come from Tory, who believed that she won the All Valley Tournament fair and square, only to learn that Silver paid off a judge to make a bad call in her fight against Samantha.
There’s no telling whether Tory will simmer in her rage for the entirety of the season, but it’s clear that Silver needs some help to run all of his hydra-head schools. So, he’s enlisted a The Karate Kid III villain, Mike Barnes, with Sean Kanan returning to pick up like so many O.G. cast members have done before. What Barnes will do, there’s no telling, but since he’s doing it at Silver’s behest, you can bet that he’ll be up to no good.
All of the show’s success (and the cross-generational appeal) is a testament to how showrunners Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg have managed to deftly weave in characters from the past at the right moment. Yes, I’d like to see more of Elisabeth Shue’s Ali, but I’ll trust them to make it happen when the time is right. Like maybe she can pop onto the screen and kick Silver in the nads.
Admit it, you wouldn’t be mad if that happened.
Netflix’s Cobra Kai returns on September 9.
