‘Cobra Kai’: Martin Kove Has an Idea for John Kreese Death Scene
Cobra Kai Season 5 makes John Kreese (Martin Kove) the underdog. Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) framed Kreese for beating up Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser) and Kreese is now in prison. He will find a way to rise up, for now. Kove said one day Kreese might die and he has an idea for it.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Cobra Kai Season 5]
Kove spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet by phone on Aug. 23. Looking ahead at the ultimate conclusion of Kreese’s story, Kove said he had an idea for his death scene. Cobra Kai Season 5 is now on Netflix.
Does John Kreese die in ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5?
The Cobra Kai Season 5 finale makes you think they’re about to go all Game of Thrones on many of their characters. Kreese gets shivved and it appears fatal. Fortunately, it was all part of Kreese’s scheme to escape. Kove isn’t opposed to Kreese dying, but he wants redemption first.
“We have plans,” Kove told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “I have all kinds of great plans how he can go. Bad guy, in movies the bad guy, I’m developing a couple of westerns and other things to do but I don’t know how many seasons more there will be. I assume because of the success of season 5 when it airs it will be very strong so there will be more seasons but the bottom line is, how many movies have we seen where the bad guy turns good and dies at the end. You always see that. He turns heroic and that’s what I think is planned.”
What John Kreese’s redemption could look like
What Kove is suggestion fits right in line with Cobra Kai. The whole premise of the show was making Karate Kid villain Johnny Lawrence a hero. They’ve managed to redeem Chozen and Johnny’s Cobra Kai buddies too. Even Terry Silver seemed to have turned his life around before Kreese brought him back. Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) too.
Kreese has a lot further to go for him to be forgiven. There’s not just spearheading Daniel (Ralph Macchio)’s bullying in The Karate Kid and ordering Johnny to sweep the leg. There’s also attacking Johnny in Karate Kid II and conspiring with Silver further in Karate Kid III.
Then there’s the Cobra Kai series itself. Kreese took the dojo out from under Johnny. He’s been a bad influence on a whole new generation of kids. It would be great to see Kreese finally realize the error of his ways. All his life, his Cobra Kai philosophy landed him alone and in prison. But for him to redeem himself would mean there’s someone worse for him to help Daniel and Johnny defeat. Could that be Silver, or maybe Sensei Kim (Alicia Hannah-Kim)? Or perhaps someone we haven’t even met yet.
Martin Kove knew he was safe in ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5
Fortunately, Kove never had to worry the Cobra Kai Season 5 finale would kill Kreese off. The creators share their plans for the season just as they warned him season 4 would end with Kreese’s arrest.
The setup was my absence for the beginning of season 5. And the great concept, and I was upset about this, no question about it, that you’re not going to see John Kreese for a little while and then he would explode and make an exit and slowly develop through Tory and through his demonstration of dominance in the jail and ultimately get out. I think it was explained to me as we always have meetings prior to seasons. They always see everything a year and a half ahead. I had to swallow the absence at the beginning of the season and I understood why. And why it was effective by the end of season 5, how that would just set up so much.
