How Did ‘Cobra Kai’ End? Unpacking the Emotional Series Finale

Cobra Kai has gone out in a blaze of glory, leaving a legacy that will live forever.

In part 3 of season 6, which was released on Netflix on Feb. 13, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) got their happy ending over 40 years after their journey began in 1984’s The Karate Kid. They started as rivals, often butting heads, but the two came together to help Johnny complete his hard-earned redemption arc in the series finale.

The happy endings didn’t come easy after Cobra Kai’s Kwon died in the finale of part 2 when a karate war broke out between the competing dojos at the Sekai Taikai — the world’s most prestigious karate tournament — as Miyagi-Do’s Robby was fighting The Iron Dragons’ Axel during the semi-final. Tory becomes Cobra Kai’s only remaining member after the rest of the dojo and Miyagi-Do withdraw following Kwon’s death.

After Miguel wins his epic battle against Axel, the Cobra Kai and Iron Dragons dojos remain tied, which means that each dojo’s respective sensei must battle to crown a winner.

The match takes place at the All-Valley Sports arena, where Johnny lost to Daniel during the All-Valley Tournament Finals in 1984, but now Johnny recruits his former rival to be his sensei for the match — which he wins.

The episode also wraps up the stories of the Cobra Kai kids fans came to know and love as they graduate high school: Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), Tory Nichols (Peyton List), Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser), Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand), Demetri Alexopolous (Gianni DeCenzo) and Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan).

“The goal in the final episodes is to land this mothership. To land Johnny and Daniel’s stories. And the stories of these kids,” series co-creator Jon Hurwitz told The Hollywood Reporter in July 2024.  “For the kids, it’s their senior year of high school and we wanted to take them through that year and have the Johnny and Daniel story that started in 1984 come to a fulfilling and exciting conclusion.”

Of course, with over 40 years of history in the franchise, the finale features plenty of callbacks to The Karate Kid and earlier seasons of Cobra Kai while tying together other loose ends like Mr. Miyagi’s (Pat Morita) past.

So how did it all end up for Johnny, Daniel and the Cobra Kai kids? Read on to find out everything to know about the exciting conclusion of Cobra Kai and the future of the franchise.

Warning: Cobra Kai season 3 spoilers ahead!

What led up to the end of Cobra Kai?

Cobra Kai took many unexpected twists and turns to reach its scintillating conclusion. After Kwon’s shocking death at the Sekai Taikai, no one from Cobra Kai returns to the tournament except for Tory.

Robby not only loses to Axel from the Iron Dragons, but Axel breaks Robby’s knee on Wolf’s instruction, knocking Robby out of the match and tournament altogether. This isn’t Miyagi-Do’s only loss as Sam drops out of the tournament when questioning whether she has anything to fight for compared to Tory — who she was about to face in the women’s semi-finals — since Miyagi-Do is already essentially mathematically eliminated.

Miguel was expected to be the men’s representative in Miyagi-Do — having served as the series’ central protagonist — but he lost in a preliminary fight to Robby in season 6 part 1 that determined the team captain. With Miyagi-Do no longer competing and Cobra Kai needing a men’s captain and sensei, the door is open for Miguel to once again represent Cobra Kai with Johnny as his sensei.

Miguel has an epic battle with Axel, featuring flashbacks of Johnny teaching Miguel karate in the past to show how he is using those techniques now to win the most important fight of his life. Miguel wins the fight, but Cobra Kai is tied with Axel’s Iron Dragons dojo, leading to a rare tiebreaker match between the dojo’s senseis — Johnny and Wolf — to determine which is the best in the world.

How did Cobra Kai end?

Over 40 years after losing to Daniel in the All-Valley Tournament, leading to many years of misery, Johnny learns from his mistakes in the most important fight of his life against the menacing Sensei Wolf, with the help of his former rival.

In a full circle moment, Johnny recruited Daniel to be his sensei, which he fully bought into, even wearing a black Cobra Kai gi. Before the start of the match, however, the odds were stacked against Johnny as Wolf physically intimidated him in the locker room to shake his confidence.

The Iron Dragons sensei took the first two points in the best-of-three matchup as Daniel’s usual pep talks didn’t work on Johnny. After Chozen — The Karate Kid II enemy-turned-friend — reminds Daniel that he knows what makes Johnny tick, Daniel gives Johnny an uncharacteristically brash pep talk reminiscent of Johnny’s former sensei John Kreese about how neither pain, fear nor defeat exist in his dojo.

Johnny steps back onto the mat with much more confidence and secures his first point with a spinning sidekick to his opponent’s chest. For his second point, he utilized the aggressive Cobra Kai flying tornado kick — which he taught his students in season 4 — to kick Wolf in the face.

Daniel calls a timeout before the final point as both competitors are tied 2-2, reminding Johnny that his aggressive attack is great, but having balance and remembering defense is important too. Johnny flashes back to how he ran into Daniel’s kick by being too steadfast in 1984, so he lets Wolf come to him before knocking him down.

Wolf gets back up and knocks Johnny down, but after Johnny blocks one of Wolf’s punches, Johnny has an opening for a spinning backfist and wins the Sekai Taikai for himself and Cobra Kai with the world watching. Johnny finally gets his moment of redemption at the All-Valley Sports Arena where he lost decades ago.

What happened to Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence at the end of Cobra Kai?

Daniel and Johnny finally get their happy ending. They both come to a place of acceptance, knowing that they’ll always love karate and they’ll always have different styles, but they can use that to coexist, thrive and help others.

The pair end up on the cover of Sports Illustrated with Johnny holding the trophy as the headline reads “Former Rivals Pull Off Miraculous Win.”

Johnny goes on to open his own Cobra Kai dojo with plenty of new students, confidently telling them he will make champions out of them. However, he also admits that there is no one way to do karate and that his shortcomings are defense and patience, which is why they will also train with Daniel at Miyagi-Do.

Despite Daniel constantly promising his wife Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) that he will give up karate, she comes to accept that it’s a huge part of who Daniel is, telling him he’ll always be a sensei. Daniel also gives his daughter Samantha an emotional send-off to Okinawa telling her how proud he is of the person she’s become.

Johnny buys a house for his wife Carmen and their new baby. He also puts a picture of himself and his family on his mother’s gravestone, after previously visiting it when he was disappointed with his life.

Johnny and Daniel are also training Daniel’s son Anthony. For the sake of neutrality, they agree that Johnny will be his sensei in the next upcoming All-Valley Tournament instead of Daniel.

How did the finale of Cobra Kai call back to iconic Karate Kid moments?

Cobra Kai didn’t disappoint when it came to making callbacks to the original series.

When Daniel becomes Johnny’s sensei, he takes him on a Mr. Miyagi-esque training montage as they practice Daniel’s famous crane pose from The Karate Kid. The song “You’re the Best” by Joe “Bean” Esposito plays throughout the training montage, which was the song playing during the 1984 All-Valley Tournament before Johnny faced Daniel.

After Johnny wins the tournament, he’s carried just like Daniel was, and then Daniel says, “You’re alright, Lawrence,” as Johnny invites him to come hold the trophy, too. In The Karate Kid, Johnny approached Daniel and said, “You’re alright LaRusso,” after Daniel won against him and was holding the trophy.

In the final scene, Daniel attempts to catch a fly with chopsticks like Mr. Miyagi challenged him to do in The Karate Kid. Johnny comes and squishes the fly with his hands while they are out for lunch, once again illustrating that their friendship is based on differences.

What happened to the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do students at the end of Cobra Kai?

While the final episode of Cobra Kai is primarily focused on completing Johnny’s redemption arc, the students like Miguel, Hawk, Demetri, Sam, Tory and Robby got their own happy endings, too.

Miguel wins the Sekai Taikai and gets into Stanford, while Sam gets into the one-year Okinawa program she’s always dreamed of attending. Though they will be in different countries come September, Miguel chooses to go to Okinawa to spend time with Sam over the summer and give their relationship more time.

Demetri ultimately decides to go to CalTech with Hawk and study robotics. Hawk is still with his girlfriend Moon, and Demetri is back together with Yasmine as the series ends.

Tory and Robby are both worried about their futures as they struggle to get into good colleges with their checkered pasts. However, Tory wins the Sekai Taikai, gaining tons of positive media attention, which leads to a branding deal with Icon Branding for both her and Robby as the future power couple of karate.

What did Daniel find out about Mr. Miyagi’s past at the end of Cobra Kai?

After Daniel uncovers a box of Mr. Miyagi’s things in part one of Cobra Kai’s sixth season, he is surprised to learn that Mr. Miyagi was accused of assault and robbery. While Daniel is first upset by what he learns about his late mentor, he finds out that things weren’t what they seemed.

In the finale, Daniel’s mother pulls out a necklace Mr. Miyagi gave her that belonged to his mother and, later, his wife, who died in a Japanese internment camp. She reveals that a guard had stolen it after her death and Mr. Miyagi took the necklace back before he was attacked first.

“We’ve always wanted to lace Miyagi through the show, and this is a way of uncovering the past of a man and layer in some intrigue about who he was,” Macchio told PEOPLE in July 2024. “It begins as this personal disappointment but it turns into something very positive for Daniel. It’s another teaching moment; Miyagi’s teaching him from the grave.”

Will there be more of The Karate Kid franchise after the end of Cobra Kai?

The Karate Kid and Daniel will return in Karate Kid: Legends alongside Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) from the 2010 Karate Kid reboot and newcomer Li Fong (Ben Wang). The movie is said to take place three years after Cobra Kai ends as Fong enters a karate tournament after moving to New York, and takes guidance from Daniel and Mr. Han.

“To me, this was just about carrying the honesty and truth of Daniel LaRusso and what Miyagi his mentor meant to him and paying it forward,” Macchio told PEOPLE of the new film.

As for Cobra Kai, the creators have said this is the end of Johnny’s character arc, but there could potentially be more Karate Kid and Cobra Kai spinoffs in the future.

“When we watched the final episode of Cobra Kai, we see so many potential spinoffs, some intentionally and other unintentionally laid throughout the course of this six-season story,” series co-creator Hayden Schlossberg told The Hollywood Reporter in November 2024. “So, the show will end our love for The Karate Kid, but our desire to play in The Karate Kid sandbox doesn’t end.”