The Karate Kid sequel series has had a number of the iconic film franchise’s villains return, and now it’s added one more into the mix for its fifth season.
Here is everything you need to know about the character returning for Season 5, and what it’ll mean for the Miyagi-Do dojo.
Which Iconic ‘Karate Kid’ Actor is Joining ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5?
Sean Kanan is returning to the Karate Kid franchise to reprise his role as Mike Barnes, a bully he originally portrayed in The Karate Kid Part III.
In the movie, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) recruited Mike to the Cobra Kai dojo for his ruthless tactics in tournaments.
Silver hires Barnes to defeat LaRusso at the All-Valley Championship, where he uses dirty tactics to try and beat his opponent, but ultimately is defeated by LaRusso thanks to guidance from Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita).
In Cobra Kai Season 5 it seems like not much else has changed as Silver will once again be recruiting Barnes to help him, this time to expand Cobra Kai’s reach all across The Valley.
For LaRusso this is going to prove to be a tough challenge in Season 5, and actor Macchio told ExtraTV that his character has to find a way to take down Silver because his character is “the only one who truly knows how villainous and how bad” he is.
In an interview with the Today Show, Macchio added: “LaRusso is the only one who really sees Terry Silver for who he is.
“So, often when you’re the only one who could see the truth, to everyone else you look like the crazy person.”
In August, Kanan took to Twitter to share a first look image of himself in character and he shared his joy at being able to return to the franchise.
He wrote: “So excited to FINALLY announce that Mike Barnes will be a part of season 5! [writer Josh Heald], [writer Jon Hurwitz] & [co-creator Hayden Schlossberg] wrote me an awesome story. Can’t wait for you all to see it!”
In an interview with Variety, co-creator Schlossberg explained that the show’s writers enjoyed finding new ways to bring in old characters like Silver and Barnes.
He explained: “It’s fun, you expand the universe. You have new characters, and with new characters, new perspectives and backgrounds.
“So, that brings the modern element to it, but we start out with, ‘Hey, remember the roots.’ The bonsai tree grows and you get to explore different types of characters in a TV series that you wouldn’t in the movie.”
Cobra Kai Season 5 is available to stream now on Netflix.
Update 09/09/22 04:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include the official trailer for Season 5 of Cobra Kai.
