Cobra Kai is back to kick off the new year with the release of season 3 on Netflix. Originally a YouTube Red exclusive, Cobra Kai made the move to Netflix after releasing its first two seasons. With those episodes streaming on Netflix for the past several months, a larger audience has made the series even more popular, creating a lot of fan excitement for the third season to drop. Now that they’re finally here, Netflix subscribers can binge the ten new episodes right away to see what comes next.
When Netflix bought the rights to Cobra Kai last June, the third season of the series had already been filmed. Rather than release season 3 right away, Netflix opted to give the first two seasons their time to shine on the service, letting Cobra Kai build an audience and increasing anticipation for season 3. People on Netflix wound up eating Cobra Kai right up, turning the show into one of the most popular titles the streamer has to offer. Initially, the plan was to debut season 3 on Jan. 8, but that release date was moved up to the first of the year as a special treat for fans.
We’re not going to get into what happens here, so as not to spoil any surprises for Cobra Kai fans who haven’t yet begun their binges of season 3. What I can mention is the reviews for the new season have been very strong. On Rotten Tomatoes, season 3 is currently sitting with a 96% Certified Fresh score with the audience score matching that at 96%. The critical consensus is that if you’re a fan that found the first two seasons to be highly enjoyable, you’re going to love season 3 as well.
If you’re late to the Cobra Kai party, the hit show serves as a sequel series to The Karate Kid and its sequels. Flipping the narrative to the point-of-view of the original movie’s villain, Cobra Kai picks up 34 years later with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) now working as a handyman in Los Angeles. His old foe, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), also works nearby as the owner of a car dealership. When Johnny reopens the Cobra Kai dojo to mentor a new generation of fighters, his old rivalry with Daniel is rekindled.
With each episode of Cobra Kai running about a half-hour long, binging season 3 should only take a matter of hours for the diehard fans who’ve been waiting patiently for the new episodes to arrive. Once those are over, you might find yourself struggling to know what to do with yourself, but for what it’s worth, it’s confirmed that more Cobra Kai is on the way. Ahead of the third season’s premiere, Netflix already put in the order for a fourth season to further continue the story. Zabka and Macchio have also said they feel the show could run for at least six seasons.
In any case, you can catch Zabka and Macchio in all three seasons of Cobra Kai, now available to watch on Netflix.