Netflix favourite with 98% score to return in weeks – 40 years after the original movie

One of Netflix's regular top 10 shows will return on 18 July 2024, with its sixth and final season having "wrapped".

However, even after the last kick or punch is thrown in Cobra Kai, there is more Karate Kid action on its way, with an all-new movie also in the can.

Star of the two 1980s movies, plus the TV follow-up, Ralph Macchio, took to X to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original. He told us to expect "epic stuff".

"On this day, June 22, 1984, the world met Daniel LaRusso," he wrote.

"Happy 40th Anniversary to The Karate Kid. Looking ahead to one of the most exciting years yet!

"Just wrapped Cobra Kai and the new Karate Kid movie. Epic stuff on the way!"

Netflix picked up the rights to Cobra Kai in 2021, after YouTube ditched the show after a two season run. The subsequent three seasons proved hugely successful for the streaming service, so it has decided to show the sixth and final season in three five-episode parts.

The first starts on 18 July, while part 2 will return to the action on 28 November. The last five episodes will then be aired by Netflix next year.

It will pick up the plot from the end of season 5, with the new, violent incarnation of the Cobra Kai dojo having been shut down, and former rivals Johnny and Daniel having won the day – not knowing that their bitterest enemy, Kreese, has escaped jail.

What's great about the show is that it remains true to the original films, with cast members reprising their roles throughout. This will be the case with the forthcoming new Karate Kid movie, too, as Ralph Macchio again plays Daniel, while Jackie Chan will take on the role he played in 2010's remake, Mr Han, bringing the fifth film into continuity.

It is claimed that Sony Pictures delayed the release of Karate Kid until after Cobra Kai has finished airing. So expect it sometime in 2025.