Warning: SPOILERS for the final season of Cobra Kai.Cobra Kaihas come to an end after six seasons, and if there lessons to be taken away from its wildly successful run, one is that fans of the series ought to be thanking its composers. In many ways,Cobra Kaishouldn’t have worked. Initially launching as a YouTube Red original series, the show picked up decades afterThe Karate Kidmovies left off, reintroducing the first film’s villain, Johnny Lawrence, as a deadbeat father, and its young hero, Daniel LaRusso, as a car salesman whose time with Mr. Miyagi inspired him to give away bonsai trees as purchase bonuses.
But that was just the beginning of a show that would grow to become bigger, bolder, funnier, soapier, and more self-aware than anyKarate Kidmovie may ever be. And, from day one, composers Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg have been providing audiences with a permission structure to enjoy the show exactly as it presents itself. Thecomposers have spoken extensively withScreenRantabout the music of the series up until the last batch of episodes, butCobra Kai’s final round had some surprise punches to throw.
ScreenRantspokeCobra Kaico-composer Zach Robinson about some of the biggest musical moments of the show’s final season, which, in true series fashion, included the explosive deaths of the series’ greatest villains and a dream sequence fight scene with a long-lost mentor. Robinson also shared a musical secret that ties the series together in a surprising and touching way, and pitched his ownCobra Kaispinoff.
How Daniel’s Trippy Mr. Miyagi Team-Up Bridges The Karate Kid & Cobra Kai
The Moment Features “Something We Just Haven’t Heard In The Score Before”
Cobra Kaiseason 6, episode 13 includes one of the show’s biggest swings, in which Daniel LaRusso is assaulted by skeleton costume-wearing goons during a nightmare. Thankfully, he wasn’t alone, as Mr. Miyagi himself (a CG Pat Morita) appeared to help Daniel defend himself. When it came to scoring that scene,“We had to take a swing too,”Zach Robinson said. He and co-composer Leo Birenberg may have started the scene using music by originalThe Karate Kidcomposer Bill Conti (“I think it literally might even be the recording”), but they knew they had to take it somewhere else.
“For our Daniel-centric fights, we already have this Conti-esque orchestral traditional palette,”Robinson said, but“halfway through the fight, we were like, ‘This needs to evolve. Let’s just make it Cobra Kai.’”
Here’s how they did it, in Robinson’s words:“It’s Daniel and Miyagi back-to-back, there are skeleton goons everywhere, and it’s like,‘This is so sick. Let’s do something that would get us pumped up.’So we go from traditional orchestra into a synthwave propulsive beat with the orchestra playing the theme in a way we just haven’t heard in the show before. “Miyagi Memories” is the theme. It’s like Daniel and Miyagi’s past relationship, which has been around since the earliest episodes, and there would never be an opportunity to do that as a Cobra Kai-like cue [otherwise].”
Kreese & Silver’s Final Fight, Explained
“If It’s Not As Big As Possible, You’re Not Going To Buy Into The Fight”
The episode after Daniel’s Miyagi team-up bid farewell toCobra Kai’s most memorable villains, as John Kreese and Terry Silver fought to the death aboard a yacht. That scene is a perfect example of how important music is toCobra Kai, said Robinson:“If it’s not as big as possible, you’re not going to buy into the fight. You’re not going to buy into the drama. It’s two old guys [for whom] karate is life, and it’s a battle to the death, and they’re old friends.”
“It’s an opera, and that is the only way to score that fight.”
Robinson also pointed out what happens just before Silver and Kreese face off“Terry goes, ‘Why?’ and Kreese, very earnestly and kind of flamboyantly, is saying, ‘I’ve always been a fan of Johnny. He’s been my favorite student.’ and the music is sweeping and building, and all our themes are coming together.We [were] very aware that this was the last time we [were] going to do this, so we just went as hard as possible.”
Even going as hard as possible, the composers did get a note fromCobra Kaico-creator Josh Heald.“The note was the ending. Josh was like, ‘Bigger. Choir. As loud as you’ve ever been.’ We weren’t loud enough, I guess. He wanted it to be like ‘Carmina Burana’–huge, huge, huge–right before it blows up.’”
The composer believes that scene is in many ways the epitome of what makesCobra Kai, Cobra Kai. “I love that that scene exists,”he said, adding,“I love that they had no fear to make that scene. People complain about Cobra Kai, like, ‘Oh, it’s so crazy.’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah. That’s literally why it is fun to watch. What’s the complaint?’ I think it’s the biggest example of them leaning into that.”
It has been reported that Kreese originally may have survived the fight, which Robinson seemed to confirm.“Apparently there was one draft where, in the next episode, they hint that Kreese actually survived.”But, he said,“I don’t even know if they shot it. I think they just talked about that, but then they were like, ‘They’re dead.’”
“I remember, we watched it in the theater at the premiere,”the composer continued,“they showed episodes 13 and 14, which I thought was really interesting, and people were just like, ‘What?’ It was silent after. It was great. I love it. I love that they did that.”
Cobra Kai’s Different Generations Necessitated Different Scoring Approaches
“You Need To Have Diversity In The Action”
Even in the discussion of Daniel’s nightmare and Kreese and Silver’s final duel, a trend of more orchestral music driving the fights betweenCobra Kai’sadults presents itself. There are exceptions, like Johnny’s big battle against Sensei Wolf at the Sekai Taikai, but Robinson reflected on the difference, saying,“Whenever there are adults fighting, I feel like they’re fighting for a reason that is more intense than the kids fighting. I’m thinking about Terry versus Johnny in season 4.”
“When the kids are fighting,”the composer continued,“most of the time, it’s a tournament. And when it’s not, it’s almost kind of fun. Or think about the finale to season three: the house fight we scored. The Christmas fight is fun. Even though people are getting hurt and the house is getting destroyed, the music is telling you that it’s fun, and then 10 minutes later it’s ‘Duel of the Snakes’, which is all about betrayal and family dynamics, and then it almost ends in death. You think Daniel’s going to decapitate Kreese.”
There’s also a larger idea of tone that feeds into how the composers have worked to get audiences invested in the high highs and low lows ofCobra Kai. “Tonally, you need to have diversity in the action,”Robinson said.“If you do everything in one fun tone or one dramatic tone, it’s going to be like white noise.”
“And writing fun music gives you the capital to do the dramatic stuff. It allows people to be like, ‘I should take this seriously, because most of the time I’m having more fun with it.’”
The Musical Cue That Got The Composers Emotional, Revealed
“It Was Very Analogous To Our Time On The Show”
Robinson shared a number of his favorite cues fromCobra Kai’s final run of episodes, which included “Absolute Resolve: No Mercy Left”, “Twin Fangs: The Serpents Dance”, and “Dragons and Cobras”. But one cue in particular had the composers feeling nostalgic about their own time on the show.“‘Slither: Final Form’ is incredible,”Robinson shared,“That one was very emotional [to work] on. That’s Miguel’s final point, fighting Axel.During the flashbacks we see him recalling all the moves he’s learned, and it was very analogous to our time on the show.”
Robinson Reveals A Big Musical First In The Cobra Kai Finale
“Johnny’s Theme … In The Way That He Would Want To Hear It”
Over the course of six seasons, Robinson and Birenberg accomplished impressive musical feats.“I think we really drove the car until it was below empty, so to speak,”the composer said. But one musical opportunity did stand out from the final season:“We had not done an ‘80s power ballad until the final episode, believe it or not … and we got to do it when Johnny won. It’s called ‘World Champion’ on the album.”
“It’s two and a half minutes, and it’s Johnny’s theme, and it’s in the way that he would want to hear it.”
“[With] everything else, even season six, we’re so proud of, and we have no regrets about anything,”Robinson said, although he did later admit that he wished he and Birenberg had been able to write an original song for the show.“Part of it was [logistics.] They weren’t going to shoehorn it in if it didn’t work out, so they either had to write it in or we needed to find a place in post that it would work really well in. And [in those places,] we would be competing against Judas Priest or AC/DC or Mötley Crüe.”
Willam Zabka Even Contributed To The Music Of Cobra Kai Season 6
“The Fact That Johnny Has A Theme Is Very Special To Him”
Johnny Lawrence himself even got in on the musical action ofCobra Kai.William Zabka, the actor behind the character, is a guitarist who has performed live in the past with Robinson and Birenberg, but he was enlisted for the first time to be a part of the show’s score during the last batch of episodes.“Billy played guitar,”Robinson shared, continuing,“He played on his episode that he directed, which was episode 12.”
“There’s a scene where he proposes to Carmen–she’s in the hospital bed, and he proposes to her–and we just called him up and said, ‘Do you want to play Johnny’s theme in this scene?’”
“It’s just acoustic guitar–it’s very simple–and he was down,”the composer said. In terms of the process, Zabka recorded the piece (dubbed “A Promise” on the soundtrack) remotely, and sent the tracks to the composers.“It sounded great,”Robinson said.“It’s in there, and it’s really cool.”
“I think the fact that Johnny has a theme is very special to him. He’s brought that up before to us, and it’s all part of the Cobra Kai story. So to really bring it home with him–that was awesome.”
Cobra Kai’s Composers Have A Spinoff Pitch
And It Sounds Awesome
There have been rumors (or, at least, wishes) about a potentialCobra Kaispinoff, and while Robinson said“We’ll be the last to know”about anything like that, he did reveal he and his co-composer have“pitched to Hayden [Schlossberg, the co-creator], who I think is probably tired of hearing me talk about it.”
“We want a Wolf spinoff,”Robinson said,“where it’s a different tone than the show and it’s a little darker. Wolf has lost the Sakai, so his debts remain. Terry Silver’s dead. In order to get out of debt, he has to go back to Hong Kong. There’s a throwaway line in the intro to when Darryl introduces Wolf, where he says, ‘Winner of the Seven Circuits.’ And Leo and I have been like, ‘What are the Seven Circuits?’”
So, the composer continued,“Wolf goes back to Hong Kong, has to fight in the, I don’t know, semi-annual or centennial Seven Circuits to basically get out of debt. And through that you learn, ‘How did Wolf become Wolf?’ And it’s a gritty Hong Kong-style action show. I really want that. It’s not going to happen.”
“Maybe I’ll just make a show that has nothing to do with Wolf,”Robinson said,“but that’s the plot. That’s what I want to see.”
Zach Robinson Teases A “Super Different” Twisted Metal Season 2
“The Stakes Have Been Raised, And The Expectations Are Very High”
Of the many other projects that Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg have worked on together, one of the most imminent isTwisted Metalseason 2. A teaser was just released for that series, which not only promises a return of beloved franchise characters, but gives audiences their first glimpse of the tournament that video game fans have been waiting to see. When asked if the second season would feel different than the first, Robinson said“Totally. It’s super different. We worked a lot with [showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith]about developing the score, because it’s in a different space.”
“I think the stakes are similar to Cobra Kai. The stakes have been raised and the expectations are very high because people want to see the tournament.”
“That was a great teaser that they released because you get to see, very briefly, all the characters and their vehicles,”Robinson said,“[And] it’s with ‘Dragula’, which is known for being a part of Twisted Metal canon, and you hear a little bit of our score right before.”
Interestingly, the teaser was also the first look that Robinson had at certain elements of the series.“I actually had not seen any of the VFX until that,”he confessed, continuing,“We were working to very early cuts, so I thought the visual effects looked really good. The color was completely different than what we worked to. The sound wasn’t fully there yet, so it is very fun for us to watch it after because we’re just working to a completely different cut.”
“And they do an amazing job,”he added, saying,“I think the visual effects on that show, given the budget and everything else… it’s like Cobra Kai; it’s a ‘half-hour comedy’, so it’s on a different budget scale, but they do a great job and I think they all have very good taste and [with] where to put their labor and their money to make it look really, really good and sound really good.”
Cobra Kai
Cast
Cobra Kai is a sequel series continuing the narrative of the Karate Kid saga, set 30 years after the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament. It focuses on Johnny Lawrence seeking redemption by reopening the Cobra Kai dojo, reigniting his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso, who strives to maintain balance in his life.
