COBRA KAI Creator Says the Series Was Heavily Inspired by HBO's Prison Series OZ
The Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai is a fun and playful inspirational series, and apparently, it was inspired by HBO’s dark, violent, and gritty prison drama Oz. In fact, the creator of Cobra Kai, Hayden Schlossberg, recently said, “There is no Cobra Kai without Oz.”
It also seems like the upcoming fourth season will be heavily inspired by Oz, and Schlossberg says they rewatched episodes of Oz every day while shooting Season 4. This is in response to Oz retrospective that was shared on Deadline. In a Tweet he said:
Fact: there is no Cobra Kai without Oz. This show has inspired our storytelling as much as any show and continues to-- we rewatched the episodes every day after shooting S4.
This is actually pretty unexpected, but I love that Cobra Kai is inspired by Oz, and now that I know this little tidbit of information, I can totally see it!
If you’ve never watched Oz, you should most definitely check it out. It was the first hardcore drama at HBO. It really pushed the boundaries of what creative filmmakers could do with a TV series. It was a pretty insane show and it centered on “Emerald City,” a wing of Oswald State Correctional Facility. This show held shape what we are seeing on TV today.