Cobra Kai: Netflix brings forward season 3 release date to New Year’s Day

Third season of Karate Kid spin-off is arriving a week sooner than planned

The release of Cobra Kai season three has been brought forward to New Year’s Day.

The third season of Netflix’s Karate Kid spin-off series had originally been due to drop on the streaming service on Friday 8 January 2021.

However, on Thursday (24 December), Netflix announced on Twitter that viewers would be able to watch the show a week sooner, with all 10 episodes coming to the platform on 1 January.

Cobra Kai arrived on Netflix earlier this year, having originally been produced for YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red). Season three will be available exclusively on Netflix, where it is now marketed as a Netflix Original.

The show follows the leads of the original 1984 film The Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).

According to Netflix’s official synopsis, season three will focus on the fallout from the high school brawl that happened at the end of season two.

In the trailer, we see a glimpse of Daniel and Johnny seemingly fighting on the same team.

Netflix has also confirmed that two characters from Karate Kid Part II will make an appearance: Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto).

Speaking to The Independent about the show, Macchio said: “The Karate Kid was a very black and white film. Good over evil. Daniel good, Johnny bad. Miyagi good, Sensei Kreese bad.

“Cobra Kai blurs those lines – your allegiance changes episode to episode.”

Cobra Kai season three comes to Netflix on New Year’s Day.