Warning: This article contains spoilers about Cobra Kai season 6, episodes 11 to 15.

It’s been a long, strange, and frequently very violent trip — but in the end, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (Willam Zabka) walked away from their 40-year karate war with something even more valuable than a trophy: True friendship.

Of course, Johnny also took home the Sekai Taikai trophy in the series finale of Netflix‘s Cobra Kai — and regained ownership of his beloved dojo. After Daniel’s tough-love pep talk helped Johnny triumph over Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) in the tournament final, the former rivals moved into a new phase of their relationship as karate collaborators — with Cobra Kai students also learning the art of defense at Miyagi-Do.

“Over the course of the series, we’ve seen these two characters get to know one another and to know that neither of them are evil — they just believe different things,” Jon Hurwitz, who created Cobra Kai with Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, tells Entertainment Weekly. Having two characters “who believe very different things” ultimately become friends, adds Hurwitz, “is something that I think society as a whole could probably take a note from.”

While Daniel and Johnny got their version of a “happily ever after” ending, two of their former nemeses — John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) — saw their karate rivalry go up in literal flames. Reeling from his guilt over the death of Kwon (Brandon H. Lee) in episode 10, Kreese spent the final five episodes determined to make amends to Johnny for his abusive treatment of him in the past. This led to an emotional confrontation between the sensei and his former student before the Sekai Taikai — and an explosive showdown between Kreese and Silver on the latter’s yacht.

With so much Cobra Kai action to digest, EW called up Hurwitz, Schlossberg, and Heald for a spoiler-heavy conversation about why they chose this ending for their karate saga, how Kreese and Silver’s epic last words came together, thoughts on a potential spin-off for Patrick Luwis’ Axel, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In one of our interviews in 2019, Hayden said, “We do have an end in mind,” meaning for this series. How does this ending in 2025 match up with what you were all thinking when you originally conceived an ending?

HAYDEN SCHLOSSBERG: Very similar in terms of the main beats. I think there are certain specifics that evolved over time, like the Iron Dragons and Wolf — they were characters that we hadn’t created at that point. But we knew that we wanted to give Johnny that second chance, and we knew that we wanted him to come to terms with Kreese in a way that he doesn’t forgive him, but he is able to bow to him because he acknowledges that the coolest parts of his life are actually due to him. That helps him move on to take Cobra Kai back. Ending the series with him in the black gi promoting Cobra Kai, not changing his philosophies, but realizing you should probably learn Miyagi-Do, too, and just feeling like that Cobra Kai is going to be used for good with him at the helm. He was destined to be the one to control it and make sure it’s not corrupted.

It’s really nice to have Daniel and Johnny working together at the end. Like you said, neither has compromised their values, but they now understand the importance of both philosophies. Why was it important to you to send those characters off in this way?

JON HURWITZ: Well, it is not only a message for the show, but a message just in general, a theme in society. These are two characters that believe very different things. At the start of the series, rather than try to understand each other’s points of view, they just hated each other and were constantly at odds and sometimes coming to blows as a result of their issues. Over the course of the series, we’ve seen these two characters get to know one another and to know that neither of them are evil; they just believe different things. They got to learn about each other’s philosophies and the good and bad within those as well. Having these two characters 40 years later become actual friends, true friends who can agree to disagree about things but move on in life productively, is something that I think society as a whole could probably take a note from.

Johnny has a very emotional catharsis when he confronts Kreese for abandoning him all those years ago. Talk about Billy’s reaction to that scene and why it was so important for Johnny to have that moment before getting back on the mat.

JOSH HEALD: Billy was aware, as we were, that that was a big relationship that needed to resolve one way or another. As the series is coming to its conclusion. It’s been the beating heart of his issues this whole time. There’s Daniel obviously and feeling like he got overshadowed and this guy is responsible, but Daniel is actually a little bit of misplaced blame, because the real issue that he’s been struggling with this whole time is that really corrupted relationship with Kreese and feeling like an abandoned kid at a time in which he had nobody.

Because Kreese was struggling, he took it out on his students. It was important for us to have Kreese’s reckoning in the back five episodes after he sees what he’s wrought as Kwon has died. It’s ever clearer that this is what happens with his rule of Cobra Kai. He’s able to be self-reflective and look inward and realize what he’s done. For the first time, he’s not conniving or finagling or trying to get something for himself out of a manipulated relationship with Johnny or anybody else. He’s actually trying to say sorry, but also knowing that he doesn’t deserve it.

Those were the colors that we wanted to play with. Johnny’s not letting him off the hook and Kreese isn’t asking to be let off the hook. It should be played real and visceral and everything you see there, it just blew us away. The performance that they gave, and particularly Billy who bears the brunt of the emotion in that scene. He’s just brought back down to the studs as this scared kid who was left out in the cold. And that was one of the most amazing things to witness in real-time on set. As we edited it and put it together, we realized what a powerful moment that was six years coming for this storyline.

There’s this parallel with Sensei Wolf [Lewis Tan], who seems to be recreating the Kreese-Johnny dynamic with Axel, but this time, Axel seems empowered after breaking free from Sensei Wolf. Am I wrong in thinking that Axel’s going to be okay, and he’s not going to spend the next 30 years feeling like a loser even though he didn’t win the tournament?

SCHLOSSBERG: I think he’s on a good path toward being okay. Certainly, Sam is the agent of change there for him. She gave him those feelings to push against what Wolf wanted him to do. He’s clearly on a better path than he would be on had he done what Wolf wanted to do [at the tournament]. But there’s an interesting journey and story that you could tell in a spinoff. Yeah, he did the right thing, but he did come in second place and he did lose his sensei, and he has to find a way to be a champion the right way. I’d watch that.

HEALD: Coming this fall on Hayden TV. [Laughs]

We need to talk about Kreese’s epic showdown with Terry on the boat. We know that he’s trying to make amends and that he is determined to stop Silver from doing any more damage. But does John Kreese get on that yacht knowing he was going to die?

HURWITZ: I think Kreese got on that yacht knowing that he was going to do whatever it took to make sure Terry Silver didn’t impact Johnny in any negative way, and he was comfortable with whatever that was going to mean. In Kreese’s mind, there was no doubt he was going to probably kill Terry Silver.

HEALD: He murdered Dennis right out of the gate! [Laughs]

HURWITZ: I think he pretty clearly felt like he was going to kill Terry Silver. I don’t think he necessarily knew that he would also die in the clash, but I think he was comfortable with that and ready to move on.

How did it come about that the final words we hear from Silver and Kreese were “no” and “mercy”?

HEALD: That was as that script was coming together in the writer’s room, and as it was undergoing rewrites during production, it just felt like Kreese needed to have the last word. We wanted Silver to realize this insane thing that Kreese is doing right before it happens. He’s going to yell, “No!” That’s something you would normally do when you realize, “Oh crap, my boat’s about to explode with me on it.” And Kreese just had a gleeful look in his eyes like, “Yeah, I’m going to die and I’m taking you out with me.” And it was perfect. It was his catchphrase.

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These final episodes have some “hell-freezes-over moments,” like Daniel saying, “Cobra Kai never dies,” and then Daniel showing up at the Sekai Taikai in a Cobra Kai gi. Did you have any hesitation or concerns about Daniel going that far in his embrace of the Cobra Kai ethos?

HURWITZ: Well, first of all, Daniel was a Cobra Kai back in Karate Kid III, so he’s been there before. [Laughs] But this was in the spirit of friendship. This was in the spirit of supporting his friend in the biggest moment of his friend’s life. It was he and all of the students being behind Johnny in this big moment that was really important. We did know that it was going to be a striking image to have Daniel in that gi.

A a fun little thing from set: There’s that one shot where we’re following the logo on the back, and we wrap around and you see it’s Daniel there. That was a shot that we had planned, but it was such mayhem while filming those scenes, there was so much to do in so little time that we forgot it for a moment. We realized when we had five minutes left [in the shooting schedule], and we’re like, “Oh my God, we didn’t get that shot!” So, everyone had to rush [to get it set up]. We had 20 seconds left and we said, “Action.” In one take, the camera was perfect, and it landed there perfectly on Daniel’s face, and Daniel had the right expression. I’ll never forget when we said, “Cut! That’s a wrap on the day,” and Ralph was just like, “I’m good.” [Laughs] He knew that he had one take to do it, and he crushed it.

Last time, we talked about you guys getting Ralph Macchio in a dog cage. Now we get to talk about you getting Ralph Macchio to say the word “pussy.” What was his reaction to seeing that in the script?

HEALD: I think Ralph really leaned in those final couple of episodes when he’s really going all in on this Cobra Kai journey. He recognized clearly the story reasons why it’s good, but also, it’s good for the character that he’s leaning into Johnny’s world. He’s had his epiphany, he’s had his realization, he’s had his moment with Mr. Miyagi and with his daughter. In the very end game, he’s there as Johnny’s friend and supporter and sensei, and he’s not going to try to give Johnny any kind of lesson. He’s going to try to speak to Johnny in his own language. He’s going to get Johnny’s back when it feels like Johnny’s being attacked. And that’s what a true friend does.

All 15 episodes of Cobra Kai season 6 are streaming now on Netflix.