Cobra Kai ended after six seasons in February 2025, with Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence finally putting their differences aside to teach karate together. It was the perfect ending for the two characters, who’d been rivals in one form or another ever since 1984’s The Karate Kid. However, this was the ending to a very different Cobra Kai from the show’s first two seasons. Although Johnny was a central character in the show’s initial episodes, with Daniel also playing a prominent role, its main focus was actually on a new generation of karate students.

What made Cobra Kai so special in the first place was that it took the magic of the Karate Kid franchise and applied it to a different context, completely reinventing the story for viewers who weren’t alive when the original characters of Cobra Kai are no longer its karate students, but the older karate masters revived from The Karate Kid and its sequels. This change means the later seasons increasingly rely on the nostalgia of longtime franchise fans.

Cobra Kai Became A Different Show After Season 2

It Shifted Focus From Teen Drama To The Backstories Of Karate Kid Characters

best Karate Kid villain’s antagonistic role in the lives of both Lawrence and LaRusso. Kreese becomes a main character from Cobra Kai season 3 onwards, with the show even dedicating extensive screentime to his backstory.

From season 3, Cobra Kai seems more interested in expanding on major character arcs from The Karate Kid.

The promotion of John Kreese to the status of a major character in Cobra Kai resulted in the series becoming a prequel to the Karate Kid movies, as well as a sequel. Its storylines began to explore the origin stories not only of Kreese, but other Karate Kid characters like Mr. Miyagi, Chozen and Terry Silver. Miguel Diaz is the main protagonist in the show’s first season, and yet, from Cobra Kai season 3 onwards, he’s relegated to the position of a secondary character. The series seems more interested in expanding on major character arcs from The Karate Kid.

The School Fight Was The Perfect Ending For Cobra Kai's First 2 Seasons

Cobra Kai’s Miguel, Robby & Sam Storylines Needed A Dramatic Conclusion

On the other hand, the Cobra Kai’s climactic school fight in the final episode of season 2, entitled “No Mercy”, is the perfect way to wrap up the show’s various storylines about its younger characters. An almighty battle in the school corridor ensues between karate students of the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do dojos, run by Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso, respectively, involving all the main students from the first two seasons of the show. The fight concludes with a tragic accident, as Robby Lawrence accidentally kicks Miguel Diaz off a stairwell, causing him serious spinal injuries.

This shocking conclusion is a downer for the season to end on, but it reflects the harmful direction in which the rivalry between Lawrence and LaRusso’s karate schools was heading. As LaRusso’s wife, Amanda, tells him, "No more karate. It's over." Of course, the karate in Cobra Kai is only just getting started. In fact, what the end of season 2 signals is that the era of Cobra Kai being a show principally about teen drama, and Daniel LaRusso’s personal grudge against Johnny Lawrence, is over. The show was turning over a new page.

It Was Only Natural For Cobra Kai To Change After Season 2

After Such A Devastating End To Season 2, The Show Needed A Reset

Given its dramatic and, in some ways, harrowing season 2 finale, Cobra Kai had no choice but to change things up for its next season. John Kreese taking back the Cobra Kai dojo from Johnny Lawrence at the end of season 2 sets up his larger role in the series from season 3 onwards, but it’s the serious injury to Miguel Diaz that effectively makes Cobra Kai a different show after its first two seasons.

Miguel goes from playing a similar role to Johnny’s in the original Karate Kid to being a relatively minor character in Cobra Kai’s last four seasons. While it’s true that he is given some interesting subplots, including his journey to Mexico to find his father, he’s largely an appendage of his mother, Carmen, who’s in a relationship with Johnny.

What’s more, the show had many more hours to fill than the total run-time of the original Karate Kid movie trilogy. It might have worked for the movies to essentially rehash the same storyline in different ways over the course of three 90-minute feature films, but Cobra Kai runs for five hours per season. It couldn’t keep focusing on the rivalry between Miguel and Robby, alongside the grudge between LaRusso and Lawrence, for the whole of its six-season run. The decision of the showrunners to shift focus is understandable, and makes for a better watch overall.

I Love Cobra Kai, But I Liked The Show's Earlier Seasons Better

All 6 Seasons Are Great, But Seasons 1 & 2 Bring More Originality To The Table

At the same time, Cobra Kai lost something when it moved on from the main storylines of its first two seasons. When it first came out on YouTube , the show felt fresh and contemporary, tying a classic movie franchise to the authentic personal stories of teenagers today. Watching the later Cobra Kai seasons, it feels like we’re going back in time, as though the Karate Kid movies continued beyond their third instalment released in 1989, with further prequel and sequel releases.

The increasing emphasis on nostalgia for The Karate Kid as the show developed arguably made it less interesting for newcomers to the franchise. Cobra Kai is its own show, which has deservedly become enormously successful on its own . It also does a much better job of balancing the legacy of the original Karate Kid with bringing something new to the table than 2010’s cinematic Karate Kid reboot. Ultimately, the something new that Cobra Kai offers up is more important than the nostalgic elements of the show. As a consequence, seasons 1 and 2 remain the best of the series.