streaming wars

Cobra Kai Crane-Kicks From YouTube to Netflix for Its Third Season

Crank those 80s power ballads. Photo: Guy D’Alema/Guy D’Alema/YouTube

As with wax, so too with shows and streaming services: on, and then later off again. Netflix has announced that it will pick up Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai for a third season. The show picks up years after the original 1984 movie, starring the original rivals Ralph Macchio and Billy Zabka later in life in flipped positions from their original underdog-versus-bully circumstances, but still as obsessed with karate as ever. It was originally the centerpiece of YouTube’s premium streaming service YouTube Red, but YouTube has moved away from its big swing at scripted TV (On Becoming a God in Central Florida, for instance, was originally developed for YouTube but moved to Showtime) and Netflix has swooped in to pick up Cobra Kai. In addition to picking up a third season of the show, Netflix will start streaming the first two seasons of Cobra Kai this year. Josh Heald (of the Hot Tub Time Machine movies) and Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (of the Harold & Kumar movies) created the series, which already boasts two Emmy nominations for its stunt coordination. Now, we move onto a new underdog story: Can a little show from an underwatched platform make it in the Netflix big time?

Cobra Kai Crane-Kicks From YouTube to Netflix for Season 3