Cobra Kai Series Finale Ending Explained: Does It Set Up the New Karate Kid Movie?

This article contains spoilers for the Cobra Kai series finale.

After six seasons, two different streaming services, and 65 episodes, Cobra Kai has swept the leg one last time on Netflix, closing this chapter of the Karate Kid franchise. But even with the rivalry between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai settled in a surprising and twisty fashion, there’s plenty more to come from the house that Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) built, including a movie, and some potential spinoffs. So with that in mind, you might be wondering how the Cobra Kai series finale sets up the new Karate Kid movie, Karate Kid: Legends? And what’s next for Netflix’s franchise?

The answer, to put it up front, is: we don’t know yet. Not exactly. But based on what we know about Legends, and how Cobra Kai ends, we can throw out some fairly educated speculation.

Cobra Kai Series Finale Ending Explained

But first, a quick bit about the end of Cobra Kai, to give some context here. Split into three parts, the sixth season of Cobra Kai ended the second batch of episodes with a classic brawl-to-end-them-all karate battle that brought the Sekai Taikai tournament to a grinding halt… It ended with the shocking, accidental self-inflicted murder of one of Cobra Kai’s competitors, Kwon (Brandon H. Lee).

When things pick up in the final six episodes, everyone is pretty bummed about the Sekai Taikai getting canceled, and going about their lives as normal – except Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), who has become the worst boss ever due to the stress of knowing Mr. Miyagi did some Bad Things in the past. And also failing to stop Kwon’s death. That too.

Don’t worry, the Sekai Taikai gets restarted by villain Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) because he’s dying of cancer and wants to go out on one last win. Also, he wants to cheat and whatever. And it looks like Miyagi-Do might win until Axel (Patrick Luwis) breaks Robby’s (Tanner Buchanan) leg during a fight.

To speed through the rest, while it seems like Cobra Kai won’t be able to compete because the team is down to just Tory (Peyton List), in a big twist Johnny Lawrence – with Daniel’s support – becomes the new sensei of Cobra Kai, again, and Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) rejoins, again, so that they can take on the evil Iron Dragons. Sam (Mary Mouser) steps aside because she doesn’t want to fight Tory, setting up Tory versus the Iron Dragons’ Zara (Rayna Vallandingham), and Miguel versus Axel.

Guess who wins? Tory beats Zara, and then Miguel beats Axel… But because Cobra Kai and the Iron Dragons are tied in points, the show still has one more ludicrous twist for the finale: the adult senseis must fight to decide the winner of this children's karate competition, a real rule that definitely exists in real karate tournaments. That sets up Johnny versus the Iron Dragons’ Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan).

While all this is happening, Terry Silver is attacked by John Kreese (Martin Kove) in one last selfless act to protect Johnny Lawrence, as Silver has threatened Johnny’s family. They battle on a boat that is for some reason loaded with explosive materials. Kreese tosses his lit cigar into the leaking fluid, and blows up the boat, killing both himself and Silver. RIP, baddies.

Back at the tournament, Johnny gets Daniel to be his sensei, and they have a montage that wildly combines both the training montage from Karate Kid and the training montage from Rocky, all to the tune of “You’re The Best” by Joe Esposito. You may be able to predict this, but Johnny beats Sensei Wolf, not only winning the Sekai Takai but getting redemption for losing to Daniel all those many years ago in the original movie. In the process, Daniel discovers information about Mr. Miyagi that makes him realize the bad thing he did was actually not so bad, and he becomes a good boss again.

The show ends with Daniel back as the sensei of Miyagi-Do, and Johnny back as the sensei of Cobra Kai… However, they have an exchange program where students go to learn the other dojo’s techniques as part of their program. Everyone wins!

So, how does this set up the movie?

Does the Cobra Kai Finale Set Up the New Karate Kid Movie?

There are exactly zero (0) references to what’s about to transpire in Karate Kid: Legends in the finale of Cobra Kai. That includes an end credits scene that seems primed to have Daniel say something like “I’ve heard about a similar dojo in New York,” but it does not. Instead, it includes a cheeky reference to a Back to the Future legacy project (more on that in a moment) and a callback to the “Mr. Miyagi catches a fly with chopsticks” scene from the original Karate Kid movie, aka the one Easter egg they couldn’t fit in anywhere else.

To give a little background on this, originally 2010’s The Karate Kid starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith was meant as a remake. The sequel, Karate Kid: Legends, instead posits that the original movies, the 2010 movie, and Cobra Kai are all part of a shared continuity. So in the film, three years after the events of Cobra Kai, Daniel LaRusso heads to New York to meet Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han and help train a new student, Li Fong (Ben Wang).

The movie also stars Joshua Jackson, Ming-na Wen, Danny McBride and more. However, other than Ralph Macchio and his stunt double, Craig Henningsen, there is no apparent overlap between the two productions. They coordinated, though, and parent company Sony even shifted the release of Karate Kid: Legends to make room for the Cobra Kai finale.

There is at least one other aspect of Cobra Kai that will make its way to Karate Kid: Legends: the Miyagi-Do dojo itself. It’s seen in the trailer for the movie (though the dojo looks more like it did in the original movie than in Cobra Kai), which finds Mr. Han traveling to California to reveal to Daniel he knew Mr. Miyagi and needs Daniel’s help back in New York with a new student.

Is it possible there may be more mentions or surprise appearances? Sure. Unless something horrible has happened, Daniel will likely have to tell his wife Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) that he’s leaving for New York, and his son Anthony (Griffin Santopietro) is still in school . His daughter Sam is left at the end of the series heading to Okinawa with Miguel, so she could be back by the events of Legends, or not.

Regardless, the main thing that the Cobra Kai finale does is settle everything that’s happened over the course of six seasons (which is good, because that’s its job), including the fates of all the villains, the beef between Johnny and Daniel, and the future of Miyagi-Do so that Daniel can enter Legends with a clean slate.

What About The Future Of Cobra Kai? Will There Be Spinoffs?

The future of Cobra Kai likely depends on the success of Legends – as well as the success of these final episodes on Netflix. The streamer certainly seems high on the ending, featuring it prominently in their promo for big 2025 releases alongside mega-hits Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Squid Game. However, it’s hard to maintain a viewership six seasons into a show, and kickstarting a spinoff can potentially whittle off even more of those aging viewers.

In addition, most of the stars of the show have become, well, stars in their own right, and are very busy with other projects. They also spent seven years of their lives (starting on YouTube Red) on Cobra Kai, and may not want to come back for another round on the mat.

If they do, the producers of Cobra Kai have definitely expressed not just interest in spinoffs, but also are actively discussing them. A Cobra Kai: The Next Generation could be on the docket, as the show introduced a mix of new and old students in the finale. Alternately, with Miguel and Sam headed to Okinawa, the birthplace of Mr. Miyagi’s karate technique, there’s a story that could be told there. Similarly, with Robby and Tory going on a karate tour of the world, we could follow that young couple, instead.

As a swerve, the producers themselves cameo in that end credits scene pitching a Back to the Future revival series that takes place in an alternate Hill Valley in 1985, starring Billy Zane, directed by Crispin Glover, and more. They’ve already expressed how a BttF revival series would be their dream, though likely impossible – so we’ll see if the Miyagiverse can somehow expand to include another franchise.

But all that is possibly a moot point if Legends hits at the box office. While Sony could potentially want it all – TV and movies – a big debut for Legends likely means Sony would want to pivot to the movie arm of the franchise (which they own completely) versus sharing with Netflix on a TV franchise. If the producers of Cobra Kai do indeed want to lock down a spinoff, they may want to strike hard, strike first, and show no mercy.

We’ll know soon enough which way the bonsai falls, as Karate Kid: Legends hits theaters on May 30, 2025.