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Cobra Kai fans have been waiting all year for season 4. Season 3 premiered a week early on Jan. 1 when it was originally scheduled for Jan. 8. Season 4 went into production in Atlanta, Georgia at the beginning of the year and wrapped at the end of April. Still, fans waited all year for news on season 4, and Netflix finally announced it would premiere Dec. 31. That’s New Year’s Eve.

'Cobra Kai' Season 4: Johnny Lawrence tries a crane kick on Daniel LaRusso
L-R: William Zabka and Ralph Macchio | Curtis Bond Baker/Netflix

Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet by Zoom on Dec. 2. They explained why they felt New Year’s Eve was the right time for Cobra Kai Season 4, and it’s actually quite simple. 

New Year’s worked for ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3 so why not do it again?

Heald said the simple reason Cobra Kai Season 4 is coming on New Year’s Eve is because New Year’s Day worked so well for season 3 on Netflix. “If it’s not broke,” Heald said. 

New Year’s Day was a monstrous launch last year for season 3 and it kind of really felt right at the time. Our season was pushed obviously due to the pandemic and due to switching platforms, but our timeline of our show lined up so perfectly with that because the storyline was heading right towards Christmastime. It was feeling all those kind of warm and fuzzy and then Karate and bloodshed. Netflix really leaned into that with the Auld Lang Syne style marketing template. It was kind of a moment  and it turned season 3 into a little bit of its own event. 

Josh Heald, interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 12/2/21

Knowing what they had in Cobra Kai Season 4, Heald thought this time it could be a New Year’s Eve celebration. As the season finale promised, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) will team up to defeat Cobra Kai.

“I think it just felt right as we headed toward this season,” Heald said. “There was something celebratory, there was something to look forward to, there was something of making Cobra Kai into its own little mini holiday that you can sit around with the family and watch the show together.”

Yes, they totally expect people to binge season 4 before New Year’s

Hurwitz advocated for people watching Cobra Kai Season 4 right on Dec. 31. He said that would be a good day for families to watch together. Granted, most kids are off from school the week between Christmas and New Year, but parents may not have off until New Year’s itself. Meanwhile, Hurwitz, Schlossberg and Heald are busy working on season 5.

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“This is a time most people are off from work that day,” Hurwitz said. “The family’s all gathered together. It’s become a show where families often watch the show together so you can binge all day and then celebrate New Year’s Eve that night. Or you can save it for the evening and ring in the new year with it. It’s really just a great time where people have the time to binge. We think this season’s going to be a fun one for people to take in.”

‘Cobra Kai’ bookends 2021

Lastly, The Dec. 31 premiere allowed Cobra Kai to present new episodes on the first and last day of the year. Sure, they could have come out with season 4 a few weeks earlier, but people would have finished it long before New Year’s Eve.

“It’s also fun that the year began and ended with Cobra Kai,” Schlossberg said. “So 2021 starts and ends with Cobra Kai episodes.”

We’ll have more with the creators of Cobra Kai and some of the cast here on Showbiz Cheat Sheet throughout the holidays and into January.

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Fred Topel

Staff Writer - Streaming

I live in the heart of film and television, and go wherever the story is to talk to the people who perform and create them. If you see a typo, that's my cats trying to help me write.

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