Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald were happy to discuss spoilers for the new episodes of Cobra Kai as long as they’re posted after it premieres with tons of spoiler warnings. So, I won’t even say the plot points we discuss in the intro.
This article discusses spoilers for the five episodes of season six part two, right up until the final moments of the finale. If you’ve seen the new episodes you already know, and you want to know something before the final episodes of Cobra Kai come in 2025.
We also discussed Sam and Victor’s Day Off, the spinoff they are producing about the valets from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Hayden, how did your acting come about?
Hayden Schlossberg: “Ever since we decided to have Terry Silver arrested, I’ve been wanting to get him out of jail just because I love the character so much. I always love defending the characters, even the villainous ones, and looking at it from their perspective and painting them in the best possible light. So, I felt like it was only fitting to be there to be the one that gets him out of the jam of being trapped in the legal process so he could be unleashed in our universe in this final season. At the same time, I’m like the voice of reason in his world trying to get him out of the Karate wars, but he doesn’t listen to me, unfortunately.”
Is the actor you cast as young Miyagi in the flashbacks secured if you end up doing a Miyagi spinoff?
Jon Hurwitz: “This was intended for this particular show. We can’t get into any details as to what we would be doing in a Miyagi series, but we thought that he did a phenomenal job in that scene. What we have in this, having Daniel fight against a Sekai Taikai era Mr. Miyagi was really born out of discussions that we’ve had with Ralph since the very beginning of making the show. It’s always been important to us, and it’s always been important to Ralph that Mr. Miyagi be a really important element of his character, and of the series, and we’ve always tried to do it justice over the years.
This season, we’re doing some things that, for some audiences, are a little bit controversial in certain ways, but it’s all done with love and with a big, broad plan. Having that kind of dream sequence for Daniel was something that Ralph really loved the idea of he and Mr. Miyagi sharing screen time together. You see we have the deepfake of Pat [Morita] in there, which was something that was really special for Ralph to basically be on screen with him again and give Miyagi time to shine a little bit more as this final season goes on.”
With that deepfake, you still had to do Morita’s voice, right?
Jon Hurwitz: “Yes, we deepfaked his voice as well. It was all the deep faking was both visual and audio.”
Was it hard to find William Christopher Ford from Karate Kid III?
Josh Heald: “It was just very exciting to go that deep of a cut in the Karate Kid universe, to bring back Dennis. We’re in that fandom and we’ve been following everybody that we can locate from the initial three movies for years and years. Online, we were just aware that William Christopher Ford is a martial artist and is a sensei in his own right and is very deeply involved in not only martial arts but the history of martial arts and paying so much respect for the senseis that come before him. And is also a filmmaker and an actor.
There were so many reasons why it felt like it was time to dig into that well and bring him into this universe. Because he looks so different than he looks in Karate Kid III, there’s certainly a section of a subsection of a subsection of an audience who is as deeply involved as we are. On sight, they’re going to see him and go, ‘Oh, that’s Dennis.’ For most of an audience that has seen Karate Kid III casually, you’re not going to recognize who he is now vs. who he was then. You will be able to take that entire episode in between of the mystery and hopefully believe that he’s working for a different kind of evil.”
Is the episode 10 finale way bigger than the high school fight in season two?
Hayden Schlossberg: “Absolutely. That was the biggest action fighting set piece that we’ve ever shot that’s probably ever been in any of the movies. We knew that going in. It was by design. We love the idea of there being a brawl. You take things out of real life, and we see all the time in sports, whether it’s in the NBA or in MLB, all of a sudden, a giant fight will break out where people on the sidelines get involved. The crazy thing about doing it at a Karate tournament is the senseis and adults in the room also are fighters.
So, we love the idea. We haven’t seen it yet on our show where it’s not just a bunch of kids in a big giant fight, but it’s the kids and the adults all at the same time and occasionally there’s an adult hitting a kid. It led to absolute pandemonium. It was incredibly difficult because there’s so many storylines that you’re tying up and telling while also fighting and when you have these brawls, you have so much in the background happening while you have story that you’re telling in the foreground. To keep a continuity going is very tricky, so it’s very involved.
It’s very difficult to put on the page, first of all. Then once you have it on the page, you have to coordinate the actual shooting of it because you’re not always doing everything chronologically. You have to remember certain things.
I can tell you there were whiteboards that it looked like we were figuring out the core aspects of the DNA code sequencing. 50 different parts to different fights. It was an amazing undertaking. All I can say is our stunt coordinators and fight choreographers really deserve the Emmy in the comedy category because when you look at the other shows in the genre, there’s just nothing on this level. We constantly throw challenges their way, and they knock it out of the park.”
With what happens to Kwon at the end, was it important to remind viewers that fighting is still dangerous?
Jon Hurwitz: “That was part of it. I think we wanted to do something dramatically. We wanted to do something very dramatic at the end of episode 10 that changes the game in a major, major way as we move into our final five episodes. It’s been a while since we’ve had real repercussions for this kind of mass fight. We saw what happened to Miguel at the end of season two, and it had real-life implications. I think having this kind of melee and having it end in the way that it did is a wake-up call to everybody about fighting and their role in what ended up being this death in this crazy, crazy melee at the end of the Sekai Taikai in Barcelona.
It was such a big move to do, and I will say that we love Brandon [H.] Lee, our actor who played Kwon so, so much that it was one of those things that from the moment he started acting on the show in the first portion, we’re like, ‘Oh gosh.’ And people were like, ‘Do we really have to kill Kwon?’ And we’re like, unfortunately, for the story and what we’re doing, there’s so much tied to this that it had to happen.
That’s also one of the things that was by design. You wanted to introduce a character that really has a huge impact on the show and that you’re so invested in and that you think is the endgame. For him to go off the board in the way that he does, we think it’s a big surprise for everybody.”
So, you’re confirming he died.
Josh Heald: “I mean, he’s dead, yeah. When you’re stabbed in the chest and you’re sitting in a pool of blood, we tried to make it as clear as possible.”
Jon Hurwitz: “Without this interview, people will speculate.”
Josh Heald: “I don’t know, we left Miguel hanging in the balance once and he lived. This is a death.”
Hayden Schlossberg: “Unless it’s Kreese, you could assume it’s a death.”
In the Ferris Bueller spinoff you’re producing, is the plan to recast Sam and Victor since it’s been over 30 years?
Josh Heald: “It takes place the same day and one of those actors is no longer with us, so there’s not enough deepfake technology in the world, I think, to not recast. I think recasting also just is going to breathe new life and give different ways in on the process of really connecting with these two guys. And, it’s their movie. It’s their day in this iconic universe, so that is the plan.”
Hayden Schlossberg: “Connected to that because you asked the question about the young Miyagi that we have on the show. I just think there are times where you want everyone to be the exact same actor and look the same. And then there are times where that’s just going to be impossible. It’s okay to expect the audience to have a suspension of disbelief.
I just know as an audience member remembering back in the day before George Lucas tinkered with the Star Wars movies, there was an actor who played the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back and then there was a different actor who played the Emperor in Return of the Jedi and I liked the movies back in the day. I think as long as the creators care about the story, who’s playing the characters is something that can change depending on the situation.”
Josh Heald: “And who knows where AI and deepfake is going to go. I can only assume it’s going to get better and better and better. The Uncanny Valley is already disappearing in many ways with some care and attention. So far, at this point in the evolution of VFX and storytelling, deepfakes work very well and can be very effective in small doses. When you’re talking about a 90-minute movie, I don’t know that we want to be in a place yet where the two main characters onscreen are entirely a reconstruction of somebody.”
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