Cobra Kai season 4 release date, trailer, cast and more

Ralph Macchio and William Zabka will return for Cobra Kai season 4
(Image credit: Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix)

Cobra Kai season 4 puts the soul Valley to the ultimate test. Old rivals Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso team up and join their dojos to take down John Kreese, Terry Silver and the "no mercy" students of Cobra Kai.

The best news is that this isn't the end of the karate kids' stories, since Cobra Kai season 5 is happening!

Cobra Kai is one of the best Netflix shows and among the streamer's most popular. It follows former Karate Kid rivals Johnny and Daniel almost 30 years after the events of the first film. Now, they're all grown up with kids of their own, but their rivalry reignites when Johnny reopens the Cobra Kai dojo and begins teaching new karate students of the next generation.

The Cobra Kai season 3 finale ends with Daniel and Johnny putting aside their longtime feud and teaming up to take on Johnny's ex-mentor, the sadistic John Kreese (Martin Kove). They merge their once-dueling dojos, Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang, to take on Cobra Kai at the All Valley Karate Tournament. 

If Daniel and Johnny's students win, Kreese will leave for good. But Kreese always has a few dirty tricks up his sleeves; this time, he's calling in his old, even nastier pal Terry Silver.

Here's what you need to know about Cobra Kai season 4. 

Cobra Kai season 4 release date

Cobra Kai season 4 was released December 31. 

All 10 episodes dropped at the same time. 

Cobra Kai season 4 trailers

The first full Cobra Kai season 4 trailer previewed Johnny and Daniel's unexpected alliance. The video also gives us a much better look at villain Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), who emerges from out of the shadows.

Silver's return was first confirmed by the first Cobra Kai season 4 teaser trailer. In that clip, Silver goes over his abiding philosophy — extreme situations require extreme measures. "Now the real pain begins," the teaser warns. 

A second teaser trailer gave us a sneak peek at the epic fight ahead for Johnny, Daniel and their combined dojos. The cast members kick and punch and there's a brief glimpse of new footage.

Cobra Kai season 4 cast

The cast of Cobra Kai season 4 is headlined by William Zabka as Johnny and Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso. 

Also returning is Martin Kove as John Kreese as well as the students of the rival dojos:

  • Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz
  • Mary Mouser as Samantha LaRusso, Daniel's daughter
  • Tanner Buchanan as Robby Keene, Johnny's son)
  • Jacob Bertrand as Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
  • Peyton List as Tory Nichols
  • Gianni Decenzo as Demetri

Courtney Henggeler as Amanda LaRusso (Daniel's wife) and Vanessa Rubio as Carmen Diaz (Miguel's mother) will both be back as well.

As mentioned above, Thomas Ian Griffith is reprising his role as Terry Silver, the main villain from the Karate Kid Part III movie. He may be joined by Sean Kanan as karate bad boy Mike Barnes. More on that below.

Season 3 cast members that were not expected to return include Yuji Okumoto as Chozen and Tamlyn Tomita as Kumiko, whom Daniel reunited with on his Okinawa trip. However, Okumoto made a brief cameo in the season 4 finale.

Season 4 also brought in two major new cast members. Dallas Dupree Young (Cousins for Life, Shameless) is Kenny, a bullied new kid in school who turns to karate as a way to defend himself. And Oona O'Brien (Annie, School of Rock) is Devon, a new karate student who is relentlessly competitive, a quick study, and equally quick-tempered when provoked. 

And fans were happy to see an appearance by Nichole Brown as Aisha. She is living in a new town, which Sam visits to have a heart-to-heart with her friend.

Is Cobra Kai season 4 the final season?

Cobra Kai fans can rejoice, because Netflix has gone ahead and ordered Cobra Kai season 5.

Hurwitz previously told Collider, "There’s still a lot more story to tell, in our minds. We just finished shooting Season 4 and we have a lot more that we’re excited to do, going forward. So, we can’t tell you exactly how many seasons we’re going to have, but we know that we’re going to enter each season with enthusiasm and confidence. 

Eventually, we’ll talk to our friends at Sony and Netflix and say, 'We think this is probably around the time we should be winding it down,” and hopefully they’ll give us that time to do it. We’ll see."

Kelly Woo
Streaming Editor

Kelly is the streaming channel editor for Tom’s Guide, so basically, she watches TV for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, TV Guide and other outlets. When she’s not watching TV and movies for work, she’s watching them for fun, seeing live music, writing songs, knitting and gardening.