The fourth season of Cobra Kai will hit Netflix “sometime in 2021,” and viewers are trying to determine where the series will go. One actor may have provided a hint while teasing his own appearance. Sean Kanan, an actor from Karate Kid III, said that fans may not have seen the last of his character.
Kanan, who portrayed villain Mike Barnes in the third film, dropped the hint during an appearance on FanRoom Live. Co-host Jae Benjamin asked the actor what the future holds for his Karate Kid III character. Kanan replied, “If I were to guess, [I’d say] you haven’t seen the last of Mike Barnes!” This response obviously prompted further questions from Benjamin, who asked if the character would return for Cobra Kai.
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“I didn’t say that exactly,” Kanan replied, “I said you probably haven’t seen the last of him.” This comment is not the first time that Kanan talked about his character and whether it will appear in the standout Netflix series. He previously spoke to the Desert Sun and revealed that there are constant questions about Barnes returning.
“I think [the creators] would like to work everybody in,” Kanan told the Desert Sun. “At least 50 people a day hit me up on Instagram asking me if I’m coming back for season four. I think there’s a definite possibility, but I can neither confirm nor deny.”
Netflix acquired the rights to Cobra Kai in June and introduced an entirely new audience to the karate-centric show. More than 41 million households have binged through the series, while a new generation of fans has gone back to watch the original source material. Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg managed to keep the story entertaining while switching up the original bullying storyline.
“I think that’s a difficult thing to do because you’re attracting a new audience. A lot of people — the young kids — they’ve seen Cobra Kai and had to go back to watch The Karate Kid,” Kanan told the outlet. “I was part of that whole zeitgeist of the ’80s, like Johnny with hair metal music, the [Pontiac] Firebird and all that sort of stuff. For me, that’s fun.
“But for a lot of young kids watching the show, that’s not their referential point,” Kanan added. “For the producers and writers, it’s a fine line catering to the guys of our generation but not losing the young kids interested in The Karate Kid universe and the younger actors on the show.”
