YouTube Red has announced thatCobra Kaiwill premiere on May 2nd, after making its debut in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. The new series takes place 34 years after the events of The Karate Kid movie and this is the first in-depth trailer for the series that we’ve seen. The past clips were teasers, describing the characters and where they are today, while the new trailer sets up the series, which looks both awesome and hilarious.
The new trailer forCobra Kaibegins with the final moments ofThe Karate Kid, as Ralph Macchio’sDaniel LaRussowins the tournament against William Zabka’sJohnny Lawrencewith a swift kick to the face. Afterwards, we’re magically transported to Johnny’s apartment where he’s passed out on the carpet with a spilled can of Coors, clearly showing that this guy is not in the best of places. LaRusso on the other hand, is the owner of a successful car dealership (“karate chopping prices”) and is seen on TV all of the time, much to the annoyance of his former rival.
After standing up for ahigh school student who is being bullied, Johnny Lawrence goes back to his roots and beats the crap out of the bullies, which leads him to reopen the Cobra Kai dojo. Xolo Maridueña’s Miguel Diaz is also shown off quite a bit in the new trailer, getting direction from Lawrence and even getting beat up by a girl in the dojo. He’s later seen defending himself in school. There’s plenty of Easter Eggs referencingThe Karate Kidincluding Mr. Miyagi’s headband, which Daniel La Russo is seen putting on, as well as Johnny’s sleevelessCobra Kaigi and the iconic skeleton costumes, which were teased in the last clip.
William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence states that he’sbringing back the karate stylethat he learned, a method that this ‘pansy-ass generation’ desperately needs. Elsewhere, Daniel LaRusso is not happy to see the Cobra Kai springing up in the Valley again, so he begins to start training as well. LaRusso can be heard at the end of the clip saying, “Johnny, you and I… this… we aren’t done.” Something big is about to go down and we only have to wait a little over a month to find out what it is.
As previously noted,Cobra Kaiwill officially premiere May 2nd, exclusively on YouTube Red. It isn’t clear if all of the episodes will be available at once, like Netflix, or if they’ll be teased out once per week like an HBO or Showtime-style show. TheCobra Kaiseries is written, and executive produced by Josh Heald and Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg. Hurwitz & Schlossberg have directed the lion’s share of the series. Overall, it looks like fans ofThe Karate Kidor in for a treat. You can check out the brand-new trailer for the new series below, from the Cobra Kai YouTube channel.
