Ralph Macchio on Daniel LaRusso's Journey in COBRA KAI Season 3; Compares Daniel and Johnny to Ross and Rachel

Fans have been waiting a long time for the third season of Cobra Kai to be released. We interviewed the cast and creators about the upcoming season back at Comic-Con 2019! But the switch from YouTube to Netflix slowed things down, as well as the events of 2020, and now we are finally back on track and just weeks away from the third season of the show!

This is looking to be a pretty jam-packed season, as the final episode of the second season was extremely intense, and we’ve been teased that this season will take us to Okinawa. Star of the series Ralph Macchio, who plays the role of Daniel LaRusso, recently sat down with EW to talk about his character in the upcoming season, and here’s what he had to say about where Daniel’s head is at where we pick up with him:

At the beginning of season 3, there’s a lot of cleaning up to do. All the intentions in season 2 were good, both for Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Their intentions were good, even though they had different methods and everything else. One of my favorite scenes of season 2 is the elevator scene, which has no dialogue whatsoever, where Johnny and Daniel are in the elevator at the hospital and both are crushed and feel responsible. The burden of these kids hanging in the balance and the fact that it was on their watch, what happened. And I think that's a lot what's going on for LaRusso, as well as the family element and answering to his wife, who is at the end of her rope at that point. He doesn't have his human Yoda anymore to go to, Mr. Miyagi, as I always fondly referred to that character. So this is probably the lowest point he's ever been at because every category — husband, parent, teacher — is all at rock bottom.

Going into season 3, it's how to dig yourself up off the ground and begin the healing process in all these areas. And that's really how season 3 kicks off. First and foremost, Robby is missing. So that’s an important driving force [for Daniel].

Of the show’s creators’ decision to take Daniel all the way to Okinawa, far from the conflict we’ve grown to love between him and his frenemy Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) for a couple of episodes this season, Macchio said:

I think we keep the ball up in the air as much as we can. We always talk about, you know, the Ross and Rachels of our show. You want to get to them, but you don't want to put them together — so we're constantly keeping that ball up in the air.

This is a great comparison. Daniel and Johnny have had a couple of moments over the past two seasons where we got to see the guys just relax and enjoy each other and realize they actually have a lot in common. Something just always ends up getting back in their way.

Macchio goes on in the interview to say that the great part about this next season is that the scope of the show gets so much bigger with the trip across the world. He teases that the reason for the trip actually begins as a business decision for Daniel’s struggling car dealership. Then, as we know, he gets back in touch with his connections to Mr. Miyagi and the people he met when he first traveled to Okinawa.

When asked if he could tease any future of Daniel and Johnny teaming up to take down Kreese, Macchio said:

Therein lies our Ross and Rachel thing that I mentioned earlier. Johnny and Daniel, we love to see them have a few beers and be simpatico, and then we also love to see them at each other's throats. Another thing that works so well in the show is the audience can see the different-but-same elements of these guys. It's sometimes frustrating because you just want to put them in a room together and pour a drink and just say, "Get over it."

We certainly hear the fans loud and clear, and the show has been designed in the way to bring us to that [reconciliation]. It's important that you're staying ahead of everything, but you are satisfying your audience at the same time. It's challenging to do. We have so many characters in the show and so many compelling story lines, even outside of just Johnny and Daniel's legacy rivalry and Kreese as the wrench in the middle of it.

So, no. He can’t tell us anything new. But he seems to know what the fans want, and I think the series writers have done an incredible job of giving fans what they want as well as surprising us at every turn. Macchio went on to say that the show added quite a bit of training for this season, and he is excited for what is in store. Same, Ralph Macchio, same.

Cobra Kai Season 3 hits Netflix on January 8th.