“Cobra Kai” stars Xolo Maridueña and William Zabka in Father-Son Dynamic

You’ve heard this story before. In 1984, a boy from New Jersey and a karate champion from California met on a beach in the San Fernando Valley. They fought. They challenged each other. And finally the infamous crane kick happened. “The Karate Kid” thrilled audiences when it first came out. Three decades later, “Cobra Kai” subverted the franchise’s traditional narrative by transforming karate bad boy Johnny Lawerence (William Zabka) into a Mr. Miyagi figure. The series, which first premiered in 2018, picks up 34 years after the original “Karate Kid” and introduces Johnny as a deadbeat father still reeling from his defeat in the All Valley Karate Championship. When he meets Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), an immigrant teen who is being harassed at school, Johnny reopens the infamous Cobra Kai dojo. The two form an inseparable father-son bond that has developed over six seasons of the hit Netflix drama.

“Cobra Kai” has earned nine Emmy nominations to date, with the final season debuting at No. 1 on the streamer and racking up 14.8 million views in its first four days. As the series comes to a close – the final part of season 6 will be released on Netflix early next year – the two actors reflect on their time together.

“The journey with Billy was the most satisfying part of this show,” Maridueña said. “That love, that father-father relationship has always been my favorite to play.”

Maridueña says that he had the opportunity to perform specific scenes and chemistry readings with Zabka even before he got the role of Miguel, who in the first seasons provided a lot of information about the subtext between their characters.

“You see in Johnny’s character that he really longs to be a good father figure. On the other hand, Miguel had no father,” says Maridueña. “In that sense they really balance each other out. They really helped each other become the best versions of themselves.”

Zabka contextualizes how the mistakes Johnny made with his biological son Robby (Tanner Buchanan) came back to haunt him. He explains that his character’s inability to be present at his son’s birth due to a drunken trip the night before informs the emotional core of his relationship with Miguel.

“What hurts Johnny the most is that he wasn’t there for his own son on the very first day of his life,” Zabka said. “All he wants is his son back. He has a hole in his heart and Miguel fills it.

Zabka details key turning points between the duo, including a particular moment in Season 3 when Miguel is recovering from a devastating injury.

Zabka highlights the specific scene where Johnny first visits Miguel in the hospital. The latter is in a deep coma with tubes over his face. Johnny reflects on how he failed his child prodigy. When Miguel finally regains consciousness and Johnny challenges him to walk, the two have a heated argument.

“Miguel tells Johnny he’s not a sensei, and that he’s weak. Suddenly he gives Johnny strength,” says Zabka. “In the middle of that there’s a kind of miraculous moment where his legs work again. So there is a give and take in the beauty of this relationship.”

This arc ultimately culminates in a montage in the seventh episode of Season 3, in which Johnny puts Miguel through a physical regimen that requires his student to navigate obstacle courses, climb stairs, and catch medicine balls — all while on crutches. The entire time, Johnny uses a wheelchair to meet Miguel where he is, and show him that walking is possible again.

The result is a dolly zoom shot of Miguel holding the crutches above his head that he no longer needs as he and Johnny throw them into the dumpster. This sequence is played to dramatic effect by the WASP song ‘I Wanna Be Somebody’, which came out the same year as the original ‘Karate Kid’ and effectively captures the emotional tone and stylistic feel of both this moment and the franchise itself.

“Johnny really met Miguel at one of his lowest moments,” Maridueña says of this scene. “What makes it real is that you have the tender, sweet moments, but then you also have the character building, the tough love.”

Maridueña says his off-camera relationship with Zabka was close, and that both Zakbka and Ralph Macchio set a precedent in creating a positive environment on set for the younger cast members. He adds that leading a show as a 16-year-old — his age when “Cobra Kai” began — was a daunting task, and that he will always be grateful to Zabka for his mentorship.

“All Johnny needed in his life was this boy who needed him,” Zabka says. “It started to bring out the goodness in Johnny. This whole series was him breaking down these walls and failing and making mistakes and being stuck in the ’80s and trying to evolve and grow. [Miguel] helps him with that.”