By far, the most impressive thing about The Karate Kid’s sequel series, Cobra Kai, is the way it has been able to take silly parts of the original movies and spin them into interesting and sometimes even profound parts of the new show. The Karate Kid Part III is not a particularly good film, and its villain, Terry Silver, is absurd. (He’s an ultra-wealthy businessman who drops everything he’s doing to gaining revenge against a teenager and his kindly karate teacher he’s never met because they were mean to his buddy? Okay!)
Fast-forward a couple of decades and suddenly Terry Silver is on Cobra Kai, and he is a fascinating character. The upcoming fifth season of Cobra Kai will reunite Silver with his old pupil from Karate Kid Part III: Mike Barnes, played by Sean Kanan. Barnes was essentially a newer model of Johnny Lawrence from the original Karate Kid: Cobra Kai’s toughest, meanest student. But think of all the shades and sides that Cobra Kai has brought to Johnny through the years. I fully expect to see Mike in a whole new light on this show.
As for why he shows up on this season, Cobra Kai showrunners Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg would only tell Tudum “as Terry Silver calls upon some old friends to put the Valley in a stranglehold, Daniel and Johnny are going to need all the help they can get to stop Cobra Kai in its tracks.”
Here is the first image of Kanan back as Mike Barnes, along with several new images from Season 5 of Cobra Kai:
If you haven’t seen The Karate Kid Part III in a while, here’s a pretty representative example of Mike Barnes’ role as the mean guy who bullies Daniel the entire movie until they get to the big climactic tournament:
Here is the season’s official synopsis:
Following the shocking results of the All Valley Tournament, Season 5 finds Terry Silver expanding the Cobra Kai empire and trying to make his “No Mercy” style of karate the only game in town. With Kreese behind bars and Johnny Lawrence setting karate aside to focus on repairing the damage he’s caused, Daniel LaRusso must call on an old friend for help.
And here is the most recent trailer for the series.
Cobra Kai Season 5 premieres on Netflix on September 9.
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