There’s a lot to cover when it comes to the New-Year-ringing Cobra Kai Season 3 trailer, but by far the biggest takeaway from the clip is the confirmed return of Part II’s main villain, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), and Daniel’s love interest in that film, Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita). The scenes in the trailer may be brief, but the characters’ return to the mythos—after having last appeared in the 1986 film sequel—appears profound for the series, especially since it marks the first time—barring a scene that name-dropped Part III villains Terry Silver and Mike Barnes—that the series has truly delved beyond the narrative of the 1984 original film for backstory, making it a broader expansion of the overall Karate Kid continuity. While the trailer provided little context, it does appear that Daniel will, at some unknown point in the season, take another trip to Okinawa (Part II’s setting,) to get away from the Miyagi-Do/Cobra Kai drama and reflect on the wisdom of his late sensei, Mr. Miyagi, but ends up running into old acquaintances: one friendly and one seemingly not. Yet, Daniel’s confrontational reunion with Chozen, which is brimming with tension after their brutal battle in Part II, seems to be more sporting, with both men properly wearing karate gi. Moreover, the scene sheds light on the Season 3 teaser footage Netflix released back in August, which showed the sparring session, but kept the identity of Daniel’s opponent a secret. That scene was accompanied by dialogue implying that the opponent (who we now know is Chozen,) knew an unsavory secret about Miyagi, to which Daniel responds, “Mr. Miyagi treated me like a son. He wouldn’t keep any secrets from me,” after which the mystery opponent answers, “Are you sure about that?” While the new trailer doesn’t touch on that angle, you can be sure that Miyagi’s past will be a prevalent part of Cobra Kai’s third season, and possibly its already-ordered fourth season. Cobra Kai Season 3 will hit Netflix on Friday, January 8, 2021.
