Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Cobra Kai season 6 part 1!
Summary
Despite finally turning a positive leaf, Hawk is in a real state of emotional uncertainty inCobra Kaiseason 6. Played by Jacob Bertrand, Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz is one of the various new teenagers who joins the titular dojo under the guidance of Johnny Lawrence. Feeling empowered by Johnny’s teachings of strike hard and strike first, Hawk goes from the bullied to the bully as he turns his anger towards his peers, including his own best friend, Demetri. Season 5 saw Hawk finally return to Johnny and Eagle Fang and making amends with some of the friends he’s wronged.
Coming intoCobra Kaiseason 6 part 1, Hawk and his friends are enjoying peace in the Valley after sending Terry Silver to prison in the season 5 finale, while also determining their plans for the future, including college. While Demetri and Hawk once envisioned going to MIT together, Part 1 sees Hawk reluctant to apply to the iconic university, even being open to a local college after getting a taste of the fraternity life while catching up with Kyler. This gradually puts a wedge between the friends, particularly in the lead up to the Sekai Taikai.
Cobra Kai Season 6: All 15 Confirmed Members Of Johnny & Daniel’s Dojo
In Cobra Kai season 6, Johnny and Daniel have access to the strongest roster of Miyagi-Do students they’ve ever had in their careers as senseis.
Alongside Bertrand, theensembleCobra Kaiseason 6 part 1 castsees the returns of Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Yuji Okumoto, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Peyton List, Dallas Dupree Young, Vanessa Rubio, Martin Kove, Gianni DeCenzo, and Alicia Hannah-Kim. Keeping the emotional stakes high for its characters and ending on a major cliffhanger, Part 1 proves to be a thrilling start to the final season of theKarate Kidsequel show.
Shortly after its return,Screen Rantinterviewed Jacob Bertrand to discussCobra Kaiseason 6 part 1, Hawk’s arc thus far, his latest fallout with Demetri, his thoughts on the major Tory twist, a potential college-set spinoff and the future of his and Maridueña’s podcast,Lone Lobos.
Demetri & Hawk’s Latest Fallout Comes Down To A Lack Of Communication
With the show coming to a close after a successful run on Netflix,Cobra Kaiseason 6 holds a number of secrets, ranging fromMr. Miyagi’s literal box of secretsto who will win the Sekai Taikai. When it comes to holding on to these secrets, Bertrand acknowledges that it’s “really hard” not to share them when interacting with fans:
Jacob Bertrand: Oh, man, it is really hard to not spoil anything. I really just want to tell people sometimes when I meet people in the street, I’ll be like, “I just want to tell you who wins the Seikai Taiki, I know all!” I think what compounds it is having to wait for months in between seasons, too.
One of the first major plotlines left unanswered after Part 1 is Demetri and Hawk’s friendship, with the two gravitating away from each other as the former keeps secret that he hasn’t applied to MIT. In reflecting on his mindset for doing so, Bertrand believes that Hawk may have gotten the taste for a lifestyle different than what the friends initially envisioned for their futures:
Jacob Bertrand: I think, at least from what we’ve seen in Part 1, Hawk has sort of had this dream with Demetri for a really long time, before he really ever became The Hawk. I think him experiencing this frat culture, and being popular with girls now, and realizing that there’s more to life than just coding, he wants to try his hand at everything. MIT just seems a little limiting in the fact that it’s just a ton of brainiac people who will study a lot of times. I think he doesn’t know how to communicate very well, and, as seen in Part 1, it didn’t really go over too well.
Hawk & Demetri’s Episode 4 Fight Is More Like That Of Siblings
This divide ultimately culminates in a heated fight between the Binary Bros in episode 4 in an effort to claim a spot on Miyagi-Do’s team at the Sekai Taikai. Despite their prior animosity toward each other, though, Bertrand assures this isn’t meant to be the start of another major setback in their rekindling friendship, but is instead more akin to siblings fighting:
Jacob Bertrand: We definitely had a really long conversation about it, just how it gets to the point where Hawk is accidentally using too much force on his best friend. At the beginning of that fight, they’re not really using a ton of karate to take the flag from each other, neither of them really wants to hate each other super hard, so that’s why it’s a lot of like tugging back and forth. And it finally gets to the point, I think, when Demetri sort of makes that first move, of putting me in that little armbar, that I sort of flipped out of it, kick him away, and do it a little too hard.
It’s sort of like when you get in a fight with a sibling, it starts off as kind of cute, where you’re being sensitive with each other, and then one person hits a little too hard, and then one person really goes overboard. I think that’s kind of what happened between these two brothers, and after Hawk gets kicked, there is a world where he chases after him. Hawk is 10 times faster than Demetri, so he definitely would have caught him. But I think Hawk just kind of has to sit there, and sit in his decision of not applying to MIT, then also telling Demetri about it in probably the worst way possible. Just being like, “I don’t want to go. Also, you’re f—-ng annoying!” [Laughs]
In filming the fight itself, Bertrand does recall having flashbacks to his time as a bully on the show, but does feel like Hawk is in a different chapter in his life where a fight like his and Demetri’s wouldn’t affect him the same way:
Jacob Bertrand: I think so. My memory of Hawk going to Cobra Kai in the earlier seasons is a lot of Hawk being like, “No, f–k you, I’m going, I’m evil now!” I think there wasn’t really much of a conversation other than, like, the Yelp review thing, which I’m pretty sure the only thing I said was, “Take it down, or we take you down.” They feel different in the sense that I feel like Hawk was very, “This is what I’m doing. I’m so unwavering in this.” And I feel like now, Hawk has a humbleness to him where he can realize that he’s wrong, where before, him being wrong wasn’t even a possibility that ever occurred to him. So, I think that’s probably the main difference between these.
Cobra KaiSeason 6 Part 2 Will See A Complete Switch Between Hawk & Demetri
With Demetri being successful in beating Hawk and landinga spot on Miyagi-Do’s team, this is set to turn into a major shift in the dynamic between him and Hawk, with Bertrand teasing that he and Gianni DeCenzo have “almost swapped roles”:
Jacob Bertrand: Well, in Part 2, I think it’s going to be really fun to see a super confident Demetri, and watching Hawk adapt to that. That’s something that I’m actually really excited for people to see, because with Gianni, we’ve almost swapped roles, in a way. We’ve never done that before, so I’m excited for people to see Hawk take a smaller, more nuanced approach to trying to communicate, and Demetri maybe being the more-brash one.
Though Hawk would ultimately land a spot on the team after Tory left following the death of her mother, one might think that this could affect his mentality going into the Sekai Taikai, and his confidence about the tournament as a whole. In Bertrand’s “headcanon”, though, he thinks that his character can come to terms with the fact he lost to Demetri and bounce back from it:
Jacob Bertrand: I think Hawk has a pretty good mindset behind all of these things. In season 5, when Hawk fights Kyler, he sort of has a line of, “Nah, I lost before, that’s a part of life. You lose, you get back up.” I think for this specific fight with Demetri — this is just my own headcanon of how Hawk views it, this is not something I really talked about with the writers — Hawk knows that he can beat Demetri, and that he could have beat him in the forest. He sort of showed mercy, and Demetri is angry and lashed out, and I don’t think Hawk really holds that against him at all. Because, again, Hawk told him in the worst way possible.
So, I don’t think there’s any sort of feeling of, “Oh, I don’t deserve to be here.” I think Hawk knows he’s a really good fighter, and the biggest thing is he wants to send Robby to the finals, and do his part to get Robby to the finals, so he can win the Sekai Taiki, and just patch things up with Demetri. I think those are his only two goals, and I think, more so, the thing that will affect him is his relationship currently with Demetri more so than him being worried about how he got his spot. Obviously, he feels bad for Tory’s mom dying. It’s atrocious and so horrible, and he feels bad for her, but at the same time, he doesn’t know Tory that well. I think he’s said two words to her, she’s just sort of the girl that dates his friend. I think that’s more what their relationship is like. [Laughs]
Tory’s Big Part 1 Twist Was “F—-ing Brutal” For Bertrand & His Co-Stars
After seasons of alluding to it,Cobra Kaiseason 6 part 1 delivered one of the most heart-wrenching twists yet with the death of Tory’s mother, seemingly from the terminal illness she had been living with. With Daniel refusing to let her fight Sam for a team spot at the height of her grief,Tory ultimately turns back to Kreeseand Cobra Kai at the Sekai Taikai. In reflecting on first learning of this twist and filming it, Bertrand recalls feeling “this is f—ing brutal” and that Hawk will understand it more than most:
Jacob Bertrand: Oh man, when we first read the scripts, and when Tory’s mom dies, we’re like, “Oh my god, this is f—ng brutal. Tory can’t catch a break, holy cow!” [Chuckles] But, the reveal, I think, for Hawk, at least, is very shocking. But I think if anyone can ever understand the tantalizing grasp of Kreese, it’s probably Hawk, Robby and Tory. So, I think just even watching how the fight ended between her and Sam, and Johnny wanted to keep it going, and Daniel stopping it, Hawk’s mindset is totally leaning toward Johnny.
And actually mine too. I think that they should have fought, I’m on that side of the fence too. But I think Hawk is maybe a little bit more understanding of why Tory is going over there. Does he agree with it? No. Does he see why? 100%. And I think Hawk’s more worried about how that affects everyone else in his team more than her sake.
Part 1’s Frat Fight Was “So Much Fun” For Bertrand To Film (In Spite Of A Few Hurdles)
Though much of the season is spent building towards the Sekai Taikai and laying the groundwork for saying farewell to its cast of characters,Cobra Kaiseason 6 part 1 doesn’t forget to have some fun along the way, including a fight between Miguel, Hawk, Demetri and Kyler against a group of frat brothers mistreating the latter. In looking back on filming the fight scene, Bertrand felt it was “so much fun”, despite it coming with a few hurdles, including his being “incredibly, incredibly sick” on the day and one element of the set not matching the environment they trained for it in:
Jacob Bertrand: Oh, man, filming that fight sequence was so much fun. That’s probably the most rushed we’ve ever been filming. It was insanely hectic, but rewarding, to get the fight done. It was just a blast. I actually was incredibly, incredibly sick that day. I was fighting while having horrible aches and coughing up slop. So, my memory of that fight is a little like, “Oh my god, I’m dying.” But, watching that fight back, it’s just such a killer fight.
So, we basically had time the day before to learn to fight, and sort of put up boxes that mimicked the room, and the measurements of where we were going to be fighting. Then, on the day, we got there, and the roof was a lot smaller than what we had been practicing. The biggest thing was the ceiling was way, way shorter. So, in rehearsals, when I had been jumping off Gianni’s knee, when I was about to do a flying knee, I was just jumping as high as I could, as far as I could.
And on the day, when we were there, I pretty much had to just jump straight forward, and not up at all, because my hair was gonna hit the top of the ceiling. [Chuckles] Yeah, we definitely had some time to prep it, but we shot the entire thing in, like, two hours. Everyone got maybe two to three takes on all their stuff. I think Xolo only got two takes on his fight, which is crazy, considering how his part looks.
Hawk’s USA Hairstyle Was The Crew’s Favorite (But There Is One Other Fan-Favorite)
As with his namesake, Bertrand’s Hawk has displayed a number of unique mohawk designs throughoutCobra Kai’s run, with one of his most popular already being season 6 part 1’s USA flag design. When asked about the crew’s favorite design of the season, Bertrand did confirm that the flag style was generally their favorite, though teases there’s one more to come that was equally as loved:
Jacob Bertrand: The American flag one is the one that everyone was super jazzed about. That is the one that everyone was super happy about. But there is one more that is coming that was also a fan-favorite. It was kind of split, honestly, half the guys were like, “Oh, this is sick,” and then the other half of the girls liked the other one more. But I’m really excited for everyone to get to see what the new one is.
Bertrand & Maridueña Have A Bright Future Planned ForLone Lobos
Bertrand’s tenure as Hawk isn’t the only major thing to come from his time onCobra Kai, as he and co-star Xolo Mariudeña created a podcast together in 2021 entitledLone Lobos, which not only features them offering a deep dive into theKarate Kidshow, but also their lives travelling around the world and interacting with fans. Even withCobra Kaicoming to an end, though, Bertrand assures that he and Maridueña have no plans on slowing things down, even as they line up future projects:
Jacob Bertrand: Yeah, we have these little go bags. I’m going to be in Korea and Latvia for a little bit in August, and we have this little go bags that we take that has a camera, and my recording stuff, so that we’re able to keep recording remotely, even while we’re filming. So, that’s sort of the goal is, no matter where we are in the world, if we’re apart, we’ll keep recording, and we record pretty much once a week, every Tuesday. That’s sort of the grind that we have right now.
Bertrand “Would Love” To Do A College-SetCobra KaiSpinoff (On 1 Condition)
While nothing concrete has been announced as of yet, co-creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg have frequently teased ideas for potentialCobra Kaispinoffs following the show’s final season, with the most requested idea from fans being a college-set follow-up to keep the focus on the young cast. Bertrand is certainly enthused at the opportunity for this, though has one condition for his potential return:
Jacob Bertrand: Yeah, I would love to do a Cobra Kai in college type thing. I think it’d be really fun no matter who the story is centered around. Even to just have a little guest star role where Hawk comes and visits Miguel, wherever he is, or Sam, wherever she is, or Tory if she gets into college. I think that stuff could be really fun. I’m down to do it if Xolo, Gianni, Peyton, if the young cast is into it. I just love filming with my friends, so I’d be dumb to not take that opportunity.
Bertrand Is Ready To Return To The Director’s Chair (& Has A Unique Idea For A DC Role)
In looking to his future afterCobra Kai’s ending, Bertrand expresses his excitement to return to the director’s chair in the near future, including a short he’s aiming to begin filming this fall, while also teaming with Maridueña and DeCenzo for other projects:
Jacob Bertrand: Yeah, besides from the podcast that we have coming out every Tuesday, I’m really looking to getting into more directing stuff. I’m trying to do a short this fall, and get some more feature stuff up off the ground. That’s sort of the goal for right now, writing with Gianni, trying to get Xolo to produce some stuff, keep it in house, keep it in the friends and family.
When asked about whether he pushes Maridueña to get him a meeting with James Gunn for a DC audition after his co-star’ssuccess withBlue Beetle, Bertrand humorously notes he needs to “get my knowledge up on superheroes” before vying for a role in the comic book franchise, but has an idea what kind of role he would want to play:
Jacob Bertrand: No, I haven’t quite yet. I would need to get my knowledge up on superheroes first. I was never the biggest comic book kid growing up. Xolo really is the person that made that happen, though. Even when I first met him, he was constantly saying, “That’s my dream role. I want to play Blue Beetle, I want to play Blue Beetle.” So, kudos to him, he found the thing he was super passionate about and got to play it. You know what, if that ever happened, I would have to play a villain. I would love to be the one trying to kill Blue Beetle. I think that’d be funny. [Chuckles]
AboutCobra KaiSeason 6 Part 1
With Cobra Kai eliminated from the Valley, our senseis and students must decide if and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai — the world championships of karate.
Cobra Kai is written and executive produced by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg via their production company, Counterbalance Entertainment. Will Smith, James Lassiter and Caleeb Pinkett executive produce for Westbrook Entertainment along with Susan Ekins in association with Sony Pictures Television. Ralph Macchio and William Zabka also serve as executive producers.
Check out our previousCobra Kaiseason 6 part 1 interviews with:
Cobra Kaiseason 6 part 1 is now streaming on Netflix, with part 2 premiering on November 15, followed by a finale event in 2025.
Cobra Kai
Cast
Cobra Kai is a sequel series continuing the narrative of the Karate Kid saga, set 30 years after the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament. It focuses on Johnny Lawrence seeking redemption by reopening the Cobra Kai dojo, reigniting his rivalry with Daniel LaRusso, who strives to maintain balance in his life.
