In Cobra Kai, while several tournaments were featured, the Sekai Taikai in season six was depicted on a significantly grander scale.
Now, during the Cobra Kai panel at Newport Beach TV Fest, series executive producer Josh Heald elaborated on how they planned this ambitious tournament.
“We already had the All Valley in season 1, we had the terrible school fight in season 2, we had an even more terrible house fight, and dojo fight, and fight to the death over a snake pit in season 3,” he stated.
Josh continued, “We had another All Valley in season 4, and played around with that because that was the first time we had boys and girls brackets. So we found a way of not repeating ourselves.”
He added, “But as we got to season 5, we started saying we can’t just beat the All Valley to death. We’re gonna be going up against audience expectations, and they’re gonna be ahead of us.”
The producer noted, “So we started to introduce the idea of the Sekai Taikai in season 5 as this mythical world tournament that has lived in the shadows.”
“It’s like in Bloodsport. It’s like, “Ooh, people have died there.” And you’re just setting the stage for, “You can make a lot of money, or maybe die.”
Josh explained, “When we eventually arrived at [the Sekai Taikai], we had to discuss amongst ourselves, in the writers room, and with the performers, what is this thing gonna look like?”
He clarified, “What we didn’t want to have happen was, we’re going to the world tournament, but guess what? It looks exactly like the All Valley, because that would be a letdown. So then it became, what other types of activities and competitions exist in karate tournaments?”
The executive added, “And then we just stretched that truth a little bit. They’re fighting on a floating platform! They’re getting thrown off onto the hard stage floor.”
“And then tag team tournaments where you can tag in and out. We wanted it to be frenetic. We loved the idea that every year they host the Sekai Taikai, there’s kind of this rotating possibility of events that might get sprung on the competitors,” Josh shared.
“So they don’t know what to prepare for, which kind of evens the playing field. And also, occasionally, there’s a new event. So [the Sekai Taikai] became a grab bag of anything we could imagine, within reason.”
“But we knew it would eventually come back to one-on-one [fights], and we’re going to have a champion, and it’s gonna be the language of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai,” Josh concluded.
All seasons of Cobra Kai are available for streaming on Netflix.
