‘Cobra Kai’: Where Season 3 Picks up After Season 2 Cliffhanger
Cobra Kai has been the number one show on Netflix for two weekends since it premiered on Aug. 28. Now that millions more viewers have watched the first two seasons of the Karate Kid sequel series, they can’t wait for season 3! Imagine all the fans who have been waiting since they saw season 2 on YouTube in May of 2019!
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Cobra Kai.]
Tanner Buchanan, who plays Robbie on Cobra Kai, spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet before the series premiered on Netflix. We were talking about his new movie, Max Winslow and the House of Secrets, but Buchanan also looked ahead to season 3 of Cobra Kai. Netflix will premiere the third season in 2021.
‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3 begins with the aftermath of the school fight
Season 2 climaxed in a battle royale on the first day of school. When Robbie (Buchanan) fought Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), he ended up kicking Miguel off the stairs. Miguel is in the hospital unconscious, ending season 2 on a cliffhanger. Buchanan says in season 3, Robbie is deseprate to prove he didn’t mean to seriously injure Miguel.
“I think Robbie’s just really, really scared because he knows it was an accident,” Buchanan said. “He knows that no one else knows it was an accident but his anger took over and I think he’s very disappointed in his anger taking over like it used to. He couldn’t control that as well. So there’s a lot of different feelings. There’s guilt and sadness and obviously he’s extremely scared, so it’s a whole whirlwind of emotions.”
Will the Miyagi-Do students really stop Karate?
Even though Miguel was a Cobra Kai student, Daniel (Ralph Macchio)s’ wife Amanda (Courtney Henggler) made him promise to stop teaching Karate and Daniel agreed. As one of Daniel’s students, Robbie isn’t even thinking about Karate after the high school fight.
“The thing is, like we’re talking about, he just kicked someone off of the second floor, so he doesn’t know if he killed Miguel or not, what’s going to happen,” Buchanan said. “He’s on the run. So at the moment, I don’t think he’s even concerned with whether or not he’s going to continue Karate. I think he’s just trying to figure out how he’s going to make this up to everyone and not get in trouble.”
Daniel’s family is upset with Robbie too. Robbie was dating Daniel’s daughter, Samantha (Mary Mouser), who was Miguel’s ex.
“I definitely think Sam is upset,” Buchanan said. “That’s her ex-boyfriend who kind of treated her wrongly, but at the same time I’m her new boyfriend and she cares about me. Like I said, no one, really from the angle, could tell that it was an accident so I think a lot of people probably might be upset with me knowing that maybe I did it on purpose, maybe it was an accident. Why would I do that to someone that she cared about? It’s definitely there.”
‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3 could be a redemption arc for Robbie
Cobra Kai is all about redemption. It’s about Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka)’s redemption. When Daniel loses his way, it’s about his redemption. After making such a mistake, it could be Robbie looking for redemption now.
He’s come such a long way from being this teen that had so much against the cards he was dealt in life. He’s really tried to do better and turn his life around thanks to Daniel. So I feel like this is such a heartbreaking moment for him because not only do I feel a big disappointed, especially Sam being in a relationship with her who used to be in a relationship with Miguel. I think he’s just so scared that he’s not going to be able to come back from this disappointment because he’s going to really have disappointed everyone in my opinion, especially Daniel and his dad, having Miguel kind of be his star pupil and everything.”
Tanner Buchanan, interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 8/24/2020
