The fifth season of Cobra Kai was released to Netflix on September 9, 2022, and consisted of 10 episodes. The series is a direct sequel to the original four films in The Karate Kid franchise, focusing on the characters of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence over 30 years after the original film. This is the third season to be released to Netflix.
The season has twelve starring roles, eleven of which returned from the previous season. Dallas Dupree Young was promoted to main cast after recurring in the previous season, and Gianni DeCenzo was demoted to a recurring cast member, being credited as a "special guest star"
Silver has begun his expansion of the Cobra Kai franchise, opening up a flagship dojo in Encino, Los Angeles and begins acquiring local dojos across the San Fernando Valley. Johnny and Robby travel to Mexico in search of Miguel, who is looking for his biological father, Hector Salazar. Robby is initially displeased with the aim of their trip and wishes to return home, but relents after helping his father take a group of Australian scammers who were attempting to pickpocket them. Miguel eventually finds Hector, who is now remarried and has a young son named Luis. After saving Luis from the path of an oncoming vehicle, Miguel is invited by Hector to stay with his family as a reward. As part of his deal with Cobra Kai, Daniel decides to shut down Miyagi-Do Karate. While spying on Silver with Daniel, Chozen recognizes Silver's moves and deduces that his sensei was Kim Sun-Yung, a martial artist whose teaching style was based on deception. Daniel and Chozen concoct a plan to expose Silver's maniacal nature to the Valley, which involves Chozen posing as a local sensei auditioning alongside other senseis that Silver is looking to hire.
In 1972, a young Chozen trains under his uncle Sato. Johnny and Robby get their van towed, forcing them to participate in a spicy pepper challenge to get it back. Robby wins the competition by eating the spiciest pepper available, although he reveals he cheated and ate candy Johnny gave to him earlier in the trip. Miguel discovers that Hector doesn't know he exists and confronts his mother, who warns that he is a very dangerous man. Miguel accompanies Hector to an underground fight ring, where it is implied that Hector is a wanted man due to his shady history in Ecuador. Miguel realizes his mom was right and flees before being found by Johnny and tearfully reuniting with him. Meanwhile, Silver introduces his new lineup of senseis to his students. Tory talks with Chozen, and Terry becomes acquainted with Chozen, inviting him over to dinner later that day. Silver is confronted by Tory, who reveals she knows that Silver paid off the referee to ensure Cobra Kai's victory at the All-Valley Tournament. Silver discovers Chozen's true identity due to a toast the two shared during dinner and has the other senseis attack him, but Chozen easily defeats them and tells Silver to stay away from the LaRussos.
n 1980, Silver and Kreese train under Kim Sung-Yung. Daniel and Johnny go to visit Kreese to get tips on how to beat Silver, leaving Chozen as the students' sensei. Chozen issues a challenge in which the students must protect an egg they are assigned from being destroyed, but they all fail when Chozen destroys the eggs. On their second attempt, the students win when they work together to protect the eggs. At Cobra Kai, Silver and Kim split the students into two groups, the boys and the girls, and have two students from each group work together to combat a respective sensei. Tory and Devon are paired up and fail to defeat Kim, while Kyler and Kenny are paired up and fail to work together when Kyler deems himself superior to Kenny. After a pep talk from Silver, Kenny bests Kyler and manages to beat Sensei Odell by himself. Daniel and Johnny trick Kreese into revealing that Silver wants to enter Cobra Kai into an international karate tournament called the Sekai Taikai, hoping to expand Cobra Kai worldwide..