Jacob Bertrand is warning followers that Cobra Kai could be coming to an finish — however the closing season is about to be a wild experience.
“There’s a ton of relationship drama,” Bertrand, 24, solely instructed Us Weekly whereas discussing season 6 of the Netflix hit. “I’ll say, you suppose [the characters would] discover ways to talk, however nope. Not likely. Not but.”
Warning: Spoilers under for the primary 5 episodes of Cobra Kai season 6.
Whereas a bumpy street seemingly lies forward for lots of the present’s romances, Bertrand — who has starred as bad-boy-turned-good Hawk since Cobra Kai’s 2016 premiere — famous that this season’s conflicts will spawn extra from excellent circumstances quite than immaturity.
“I consider all of the seasons, loads of the miscommunications have been derived from them being younger and probably not figuring out what to do,” he defined. “I’d say this season particularly, there’s simply issues that occur in life. That there is no such thing as a actual, like, good solution to react to stuff.”
Bertrand factors to Peyton Checklist’s Tory Nichols for instance. Half 1 of season 6, which dropped on Thursday, July 18, noticed Tori reeling over loss of life of her mom and leaving Miyagi-Do to rejoin Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel La Russo’s (Ralph Macchio) nemesis, John Kreese (Martin Kove), in his recalibrated Cobra Kai. Hawk and the remainder of the crew are blindsided by the information once they fly abroad to South Korea for the Sekai Taikai.
Whereas Hawk will doubtless not take the betrayal nicely, Bertrand stated that he understands Tory’s resolution.
“The actions that Tory takes are, to me, so justified,” he instructed Us. “She’s simply looking for herself, simply attempting to outlive, ?” Bertrand added that whereas the selection will “trigger loads of animosity” within the group, it’s a “warranted” transfer fueled by grief and loss.
“Her life is crumbling earlier than her eyes, and the place else are you going to show? To somebody who actually has sort of supported you all through all the things,” he stated, pointing to Tory and Kreese’s earlier bond.
Tori’s reveal, nonetheless, is just the start. “Season 6 is simply larger. All the pieces is at a ten. It’s extra drama,” he stated. “But it surely’s additionally fairly grounded. The reactions that everybody has really feel very, very real this season.”
In fact, Hawk might be coping with his personal baggage this season. The character has seen an immense quantity of change all through the years, shifting from shy and quiet Eli to insurgent with out a trigger Hawk. Now, Bertrand says the character is hoping to seek out stability — even when meaning abandoning his childhood desires of attending MIT together with his finest buddy, Demetri (Gianni Decenzo).
“I feel Hawk in these cases, up to now two years, he’s form of experiencing life in a totally new trend,” Bertrand defined. “And I really feel like MIT was an previous Eli dream. And Hawk is attempting to determine precisely what his desires are actually. And , he goes to this frat social gathering, he’s actually in style with the women. And I feel for a second it offers him a pause of, ‘Wait, what do I wanna do? Possibly I’ll go to a celebration faculty, possibly I can dip into that life.’ However I feel that line of considering is somewhat bit extra Crimson Hawk than it’s Miyagi Do, centered Hawk.”
Bertrand stated that whereas Hawk’s future is up within the air now, he’ll decide by the collection finale — however don’t anticipate it to return a lot ahead of that. The remaining 10 episodes will deal with Hawk leaning on those closest to him for steering.
“I feel Hawk has the tendency to go wherever he feels probably the most highly effective and he has his pals there to remind him that, ‘Hey, you don’t must be in a cherry-picked place to really feel highly effective or put your self in a state of affairs that most likely isn’t the very best. You will be good and really feel secure with us and hanging out with us,’“ he stated. “So I feel that’s form of somewhat little bit of an arc that we get to see this season.”
No matter development Hawk has skilled on display screen, has been mirrored in Bertrand’s personal life. The 24-year-old says he’s discovered so much from Zabka, 58, and Macchio, 62, who reprised their roles on Cobra Kai after starring in 1986’s Karate Child. (Macchio additionally returned for 2 subsequent sequels.)
“Within the early seasons, I frolicked with Billy so much and we developed a very good relationship. And he [is] undoubtedly somebody that doesn’t thoughts taking somebody beneath his wing and sharing knowledge,” he gushed. “However out of [everyone], Ralph is probably the most sensei-like to me. It’s simply been enjoyable attending to develop a relationship with all of them.”
Bertrand famous that he additionally bonded with Yuji Okumoto, who reprised his function as Chozen for seasons 5 and 6, even taking a visit as much as Seattle to go to his restaurant, Kona Kitchen. Zabka and Macchio, in the meantime, helped Bertrand on set, educating him to be “extra intentional” together with his “work ethic” from day one in all rehearsal to filming each scene.
“It’s simply enjoyable. They’re simply nice guys,” he added of his costars and mentors. “They’re simply probably the most down-to-earth, older male influences that I might ask for, actually.”
Half 1 of Cobra Kai season 6 is now out there on Netflix. Half 2 might be out there on November 15, with Half 3 dropping someday in 2025.