Netflix has renewed its popular martial arts series, Cobra Kai for a fifth season, ahead of its Season 4 premiere in December. Production on the comedy-drama’s next season is scheduled to begin in Atlanta this fall, Deadline is reporting.
The news of Cobra Kai‘s renewal comes after it received four Emmy nominations last month for its third season. The show was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy, Outstanding Stunt Performance and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy.
Cobra Kai is a spin-off series of the Oscar-nominated 1984 film, The Karate Kid, and its three sequels and 2010 remake. The television show is set in the same competitive world of martial arts in Southern California.
The Netflix project stars franchise alum Ralph Macchio in the titular role of Daniel LaRusso and William Zabka as the protagonist’s nemesis, Johnny Lawrence. Cobra Kai revisits both characters in the present-day as they launch dojos of their own and mentor the next generation of karate kids.
Season 4 of the series will pick up after the events of the third season finale, which follows Daniel and Johnny as they combine their dojos to take on the villainous John Kreese (Martin Kove) at the All Valley Tournament.
The next season will be connected to The Karate Kid Part III, and will also feature the return of John’s equally evil best friend, Terry Silver, who will be played by Thomas Ian Griffith.
Cobra Kai is written and executive produced by its creators, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, via their production company, Counterbalance Entertainment. Will Smith, James Lassiter and Caleeb Pinkett also serve as executive producers on the show for Westbrook Entertainment. Macchio and Zabka also serve as executive producers on the project.
Schlossberg, who also serves as one of the comedy’s showrunners, has said there are plan to create even more content within the universe of the series, which premiered its first two seasons on YouTube.
“The deeper and richer you make the world, the more opportunities there are.
When we pitched to Netflix, the show wasn’t just season three and four; we talked about all the possibilities we think there are with this franchise,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.