Cobra Kai marks the end of a journey that began in 1984. That’s when a young New Jersey boy named Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) moved to the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California and learned karate to defend himself from classmates in a dojo known as Cobra Kai. The story has spanned five (now going on six) movies in theaters and six seasons of storytelling on streaming. All of which to say, closure is to be expected for many of the characters. But one in particular is murkier than you may realize.
Earlier this month, io9 spoke to Cobra Kai‘s creators Hayden Schlossberg, Josh Heald, and Jon Hurwitz about the show’s final episodes, which were just released on Netflix. We got into everything you are curious about—and we’ll run all those answers soon—but we had to bring you this particular tidbit sooner because, well, it would’ve changed everything. It’s in regards to a major, major spoiler moment in the final episodes so don’t read on until after you’ve seen them.
In the show’s penultimate episode, Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove) makes amends with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) over the trauma he’s caused him over the years. And, in a final act of sacrifice, Kreese stalks his former friend Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffin) to make sure he doesn’t interfere in Johnny’s big, final match of the Seikai Taikai. Kreese learns Silver is planning to sabotage Johnny and the two duke it out. The fight then ends in Silver’s yacht exploding, killing both Kreese and Silver.
Or so we thought. Apparently, a scene was filmed that revealed Kreese didn’t die in the episodes, but it was deleted.
In the series finale, there’s a montage that lands on a Sports Illustrated magazine with Johnny and Daniel on the cover. That’s where it ends, but a bit more was shot. “We filmed beyond that where the camera drifted over and you saw another magazine with Terry Silver on the cover and it being like, ‘Where is this missing billionaire?’” Hurwitz said. “And we even had Marty Kove there with his hand, pick up the magazine just in case. We knew it would be too ridiculous.”
“We didn’t want to make it clear that he’s alive,” Schlossberg said. “So we felt it’s better to keep it vague and let the audience interpret it.” But, as Schlossberg pointed out, John Kreese has evaded death many times in the past. “There have been numerous times in the past where John Kreese is supposedly dead and yet he’s come back,” he said. “And we never actually see any bodies. It’s fair to assume that he died based on the explosion, but it was a very far-back shot. You know, if you watch the show Landman, you see that explosions can sometimes blow the body away so that they’re actually shielded from the fire… so Kreese and Silver, I like to think are still alive.”
Would you have bought Kreese surviving the explosion? In your mind, did he? Let us know below. All episodes of Cobra Kai are now steaming and we’ll have much, much more soon.
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