Cobra Kai season 6: Netflix release date, trailer, and cast with Ralph Macchio - is it the final series?

Cobra Kai, the Netflix television sequel to the Karate Kid movies, has recently been renewed for its sixth - and final - series.

In a letter to fans published in January 2023, Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg explained that the drama would be coming to an end in the near future.

Here’s everything you need to know about Cobra Kai Season 6.

What is Cobra Kai about?

Cobra Kai is a sequel to the Karate Kid films. It follows a grown-up Daniel LaRusso, nearly forty years since his days as the Karate Kid – he’s practically a Karate Adult by this point – and attempts to take a more nuanced approach in how it looks at the heroes and villains from the film.

The official synopsis for Season 5 explained that “With Kreese behind bars and Johnny Lawrence setting karate aside to focus on repairing the damage he’s caused, Daniel LaRusso must call on an old friend for help.”

We don’t have a synopsis for Season 6 yet because, well, it’s still a fair while away yet.

Will Hilary Swank be in Cobra Kai Season 6?

Maybe. Hilary Swank, before her Oscar-winning days, appeared in the fourth Karate Kid movie (aptly titled The Next Karate Kid). The movie – generally speaking much maligned and not particularly well-loved – has been referenced across the course of Cobra Kai, with many plot elements from that film becoming relevant again in this sequel series. Many have therefore wondered if Swank will return too.

Swank herself has always been clear that the Cobra Kai producers are yet to actually call her, though she seems at least open to discussions about it.

“I’m not in Cobra Kai, no one’s asked me to be in Cobra Kai. A lot of people ask if I’m going to be on it, it’s like, the No. 1 question I get,” Swank said in an interview around the time of the release of Season 5. “No one’s called me! But it’s so funny, isn’t it, that’s the one thing I get asked the most and no one’s called me?”

Swank is currently starring in the ABC series Alaska Daily, about a big city journalist who moves to a small town and starts investigating local deaths.

Is there a trailer?

Not in the traditional sense, but there’s a little video announcement teaser you can check out right here.

When might Cobra Kai season 6 air?

New seasons of Cobra Kai have aired more-or-less yearly, with the two YouTube series airing in 2018 and 2019, and the Netflix series airing in January 2021, December 2021, and September 2022.

It would be a reasonable assumption, then, that any sixth series of Cobra Kai would air around the end of 2023. Let’s say November.

Is it Cobra Kai Series 6 the final series?

Yes, it is. In January 2023, Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg took to social media to announce the end of the series to fans.

“Reacquainting the world with the Karate Kid universe has been our humble honor,” they wrote. “It has enabled us to play sensei, expanding the original storylines and birthing a new generation of underdogs. We’ve never once taken this opportunity for granted. Our Day 1 goal with Cobra Kai has always been to end it on our terms, leaving the Valley in the time and place we’ve always imagined.”

Will there be any Cobra Kai spinoffs?

Quite possible! Certainly, the three producers alluded to the possibility, writing that “while this may be a bittersweet day for the fandom, the Miyagiverse has never been stronger… We hope to be telling more Karate Kid stories with you down the line because as we all know: Cobra Kai never dies.”

We know as well that Netflix is currently developing a number of different Stranger Things spinoffs, and this feels broadly comparable - a big hit for Netflix coming to an end after several years, still with some potential for expansion.