The following contains spoilers for Cobra Kai season 6, part 1
Summary
Cobra Kaiseason 6 showrunners Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald break down Miyagi-do’s top six picks for the Sekai Taikai tournament. With the big Barcelona karate competition looming in the future, Johnny and Daniel spent episode 4 choosing which six Miyagi-do members should make the trip and represent the dojo in events to take place later inCobra Kaiseason 6. After a dramatic process filled with arguments, competitions and a little cheating, the pair finally landed on Robby, Miguel, Sam, Tory, Devon and Demetri as their Sekai Taikai karate fighters.
Speaking exclusively toScreen Rant, showrunners Schlolssberg and Heald discussed the process behind determining Miyagi-do’s six representatives in the tournament, explaining how they chose which characters would go to Barcelona for the competition and who should stay home, why four of the choices were obvious and two were not, and how the process made them feel like sports GMs. Check out their remarks below:
Hayden Schlossberg:There were a lot of discussions in the writers room about how many people should go to the Sekai Taikai and which characters? In a way, it’s kind of like you’re in the front office of a sports team, figuring out who’s going to make the cut. That was intentionally what the story was for Johnny and Daniel. We wanted them to butt heads over the fifth and sixth people. It felt obvious that, Miguel, Robby, Sam and Tory would make the cut if there were six people.
But you start to question, ‘Okay, who would that number six be?’ You see the characters doing it on the show, but yeah, in the writers room, we had these spirited discussions and I think, at the end of the day, as important as who is making the team, it’s equally important what is the story for the character, and sometimes not making the team is the story and more interesting for the character. Those were the things that we talked about in determining who made the cut.
Josh Heald:You saw that Robby is the captain of the team and Miguel is not the captain of the team. In this spirit of discussions for episode 4, there was a contingent at one point that was advocating for Miguel not even to make it in the top six. There was a version of that going on there and you end up working with every permutation of, ‘Well, if Miguel doesn’t make it in the top six, you’re gonna want him to be there in Barcelona, so he’s going to be the one who’s getting the spot when Tory leaves.’
But then what are the fights there? You’re thinking of the fight in episode 5, in that scenario, maybe it would have been Hawk versus Robby, or Demetri versus Robby or somebody else versus Robby, in a way that we felt as a group had less juice to us, and less interest, less complicated elements going forward with them because of their relationship with one another, and, with Johnny. There’s a lot that goes into it, but the thing you bring up [with] loving episode 4, we love episode 4, too. One of the things that was really fun about that was that between Kenny, Devon, Anthony, Demetri, and Hawk, [there’s] all these different characters that aren’t always the focus - it’s usually Miguel, Robby, Sam, and Tory. All of those characters have their moments to shine and moments to focus on what’s important to them, and the choices that they’re making. It was just a really fun dynamic episode in general.
Why Cobra Kai Chose The Right Fighters For Sekai Taikai
Schlossberg and Heald explain how the choice of characters forSekai Taikaiwas a difficult one, and one that ultimately came down to generating the most drama going forward. There is indeed already tension between Demetri and Hawk, the latter of whom replaced Tory in the lineup after she left Miyagi-do following news of her mother’s death, later to be shown reuniting with Kreese and Cobra Kai.
More drama is bound to ensue with Devon, who cheated in order to win her spot on the team over Kenny (who always winds up getting the short end of the stick, and has even more resentment in his heart after being robbed of a chance to compete in Barcelona). Robby is also in a tough spot mentally after Tory’s departure, a twist that could also affect Sam, as it seems inevitable that she and Tory will face-off in the future.
Cobra Kaiseason 6 is broken into three parts of five episodes each
Schlossberg, Heald and their writers room put a lot of thought into who should go to Barcelona, and they seem to have picked the right six characters to send overseas for the big tournament, which is set to begin whenCobra Kaiseason 6, part 2 premieres on Netflix on November 15. Drama of all kinds is in the offing with Tory defecting to the enemy, Johnny and Daniel at odds again, and theMiyagi-dofighters grappling with their own various forms of conflict, both internal and interpersonal.
Cobra Kai
Cast
Cobra Kai is a sequel series continuing the narrative of the Karate Kid saga, set 30 years after the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament. It focuses on Johnny Lawrence seeking redemption by reopening the Cobra Kai dojo, reigniting his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso, who strives to maintain balance in his life.
