‘Cobra Kai’s Daniel & Johnny as Friends? Ralph Macchio & William Zabka Have Opinions! (VIDEO)

Jim Halterman December 31, 2020, 2:00 pm

When Netflix acquired the first two seasons of Cobra Kai, the dramedy series based on The Karate Kid movies, and began streaming them in August, there was a noticeable roar over people discovering the show. (The first two seasons originally aired on YouTube) And stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, reprising their big screen roles as good guy Daniel LaRusso and troublemaker Johnny Lawrence, respectively, couldn’t have been more excited.

“All of a sudden I’m getting messages [that] it’s number one in this country and this country and that country. And I’m like, ‘What is happening, man?'” Zabka told TV Insider recently. Macchio (and his kids) noticed his Instagram followers growing as well as love for the show. “Just to see it on a global level is what’s so amazing [and also] across so many languages,” he adds.

Season 3 is coming to Netflix on January 1 (moved up from the original January 8 release date) and while we’ll have to wait to see if karate protege Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) will recover from his life threatening injury after that huge season finale fight, we may see Johnny and Daniel having to work together and (gasp) maybe even become friends?

“I think at their core, maybe they’re more alike than different,” says Zabka while Macchio prefers them get close but, like a lot of the great rivalries in film and TV, “you also enjoy watching them at each other’s throats.”