‘Cobra Kai’ Season 4 First Look: ‘Karate Kid III’ Villain Terry Silver Returns

By Josh Sorokach @joshsorokach
Published May 27, 2021, 10:39 a.m. ET

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It’s official: Thomas Ian Griffith will reprise his role as Karate Kid III villain Terry Silver in the fourth season of Cobra Kai. Anyone else immediately think of Kari Kimmel’s chilling version of “Cruel Summer” when they heard the news? Silver’s return to the franchise was a forgone conclusion after the events of the third season, but Netflix just released a chilling first look at the character Karate Kid fans love to hate.

“Since the beginning of the series, we’ve been carefully orchestrating the right moment to unleash Cobra Kai dojo co-founder Terry Silver back into the universe,” Executive Producers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg said in a statement provided by Netflix. “That moment is now. We can’t wait for the whole world to experience Thomas Ian Griffith’s majestic return to the franchise.”

Memorably portrayed by Griffith, Silver is a wealthy yet corrupt businessman who terrorized Daniel in the third film of the franchise. An old army buddy of John Kreese (Martin Kove), Silver was the founder of the toxic waste disposal company DynaTox Industries. After hearing about what happened between Daniel, Mr. Miyagi, and Kreese (the events of The Karate Kid and Karate Kid II), Silver sends Kreese to Tahiti and embarks on an elaborate scheme in which he enlists “karate’s bad boy” Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) to both humiliate and defeat Daniel in the All-Valley Tournament.

Will Terry Silver’s return to the dojo include Mike Barnes? The third season of Cobra Kai goes out of its way to illustrate just how ruthless the man once known as “karate’s bad boy” could be during a pivotal scene between Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Samantha (Mary Mouser). No information has been officially released, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Barnes. Either way, Cobra Kai fans should definitely watch Karate Kid III (available with a cable login on AMC, AMC+, or to rent on Amazon) as they prepare for Season 4.

The first three seasons of Cobra Kai are currently streaming on Netflix.