EJ Moreno chats with Cobra Kai star Jacob Bertrand about the upcoming end of the Karate Kid spinoff series…
Can you talk to me about this final season, part one? And how do you feel about saying goodbye? Thankfully, it seems like it’s a slow goodbye. You have some time to process with this [release schedule].
Yeah, Netflix is giving us a lot of time to process this goodbye, which I’m very grateful for. I know that they have the secrets of their algorithm and how everything works.
It’s weird. It’s bittersweet. It feels like graduating college, which I can’t even compare to anything because I never went to college, but this feels like if I were to graduate college, this is what this feels like.
I will admit this, I was a little bit of a late bloomer to the Cobra Kai world, but everyone would always talk about Hawk. You’ve become such a memorable character, cementing yourself in pop culture. Was there a moment that you noticed Hawk being like the dude?
I think one thing that made me realize Hawk was, you know, pretty cool was actually early on right when Cobra Kai had first released on YouTube. My character wasn’t that big like he was a big character, but you know, it wasn’t Miguel or Robbie or Johnny or Daniel. But for like the first, you know, maybe a month of Cobra Kai releasing, there was a big banner right when you logged on to YouTube that was an ad for Cobra Kai, and it was just my silhouette as Hawk.
I remember all my friends saying, ‘ Dude, I’m not buying YouTube Red because it’s way too expensive for one show, but holy cow, like you’re the main character.’ And I just remember thinking, ‘I’m totally not. I’m really, really not.’ I just have like a walking symbol on my head, and ever since then, I knew Hawk was a pretty cool character. I also think that for little kids watching the show, there’s a guy with a mohawk, and that does a lot for them.
Yeah, he’s an instantly recognizable character. Are you going to miss Hawk? Is this a character you think, in five years, you’ll be like, ‘What is this dude doing? ‘ Where was this character going to take me?’ Or do you think you’re happy to close that chapter off?
I’m definitely going to miss Hawk. I think everyone, in a certain way, misses all the characters that they played. But have I wondered that? No, I feel like I have a pretty good idea. He’s either going to be starting some Fortune 500 company with some app, or he’s going to be dead. So those are the only two options. There’s not too much mystery there.
Oh, man. I can’t wait to see where the season takes you if that’s where you’re saying we’ll end up.
Oh, yeah. [laughs]. No, I mean, Hawk’s always been crazy, though. He’s such a wild card. I just cannot wait for everyone to see where it goes, though.
I want to talk a little bit about what else you do real quick. I have to mention that hilarious podcast you have. Is that something you found yourself wanting to do, or did that happen because of that bond you created with a great co-star?
So, Xolo and I were approached a long time ago by a big podcast company to do a video game podcast. We were like, ‘We love video games, but we don’t play video games a lot. We wouldn’t call ourselves gamers.’ And then we asked if we would be allowed to talk about other things, and they were like, ‘Ha ha ha no.’ We would have run out of things to talk about really quickly because Xolo plays one game, and I play one game. That’s it. So that didn’t work out.
But we thought there was a little niche for us in that. You know where there are these two young actors that maybe people would want to hear from us. Like we have a dumb but unique perspective on the world. Maybe we can just kind of talk about life, and we’re gonna call it Shoot The Shit, which is a very apropos name. But it’s hard to get sponsors when you have swear words in your name.
So, we started Lone Lobos, and we wanted it to be sort of a little time capsule that shows how we grow and evolve and build a little community. That’s really what we’ve been doing, and the community that we’ve built has been really awesome. We can them our Lobitos, which is kind of fun. It’s been opening up a lot of opportunities; we just got to go to San Diego Comic-Con. For me, that was the first time not as a fan. That was super awesome. Very surreal.
Oh, that’s awesome. I love to hear that you are continuing to find more things outside of here, too, cause you’ve spent some time with Cobra Kai. There’s a lot of action and comedy with that show, but is there anything else you want to do? Is there a horror movie in the future for you? Is there a dream filmmaker you want to work with?
Definitely not horror. I absolutely hate horror movies. Genuinely, it sounds so lame, but I really do genuinely get nightmares. I watched Hereditary by myself one night, and I looked like a zombie for a month cause I stopped sleeping.
Couldn’t start with something fun like a Chucky? Wow, you went straight to the crazy with Hereditary there.
Yeah, I really can’t do horror at all. So, just the thought of doing a horror movie, I’m like, nope. I can’t touch that; I am not even gonna read the script. Horror is off the table because I’m an absolute weenie.
I’ve always wanted to be a bank robber. When I was a little kid, that was my dream job. When everyone wanted to be a doctor, I just wanted to be a bank robber. So, doing a bank robbery movie would be cool.
When it comes to working with someone, Edgar Wright is probably the director I’ve always wanted to work with. He’s just so cool. The Cornetto trilogy? In middle school, that was some of my favorite movies, and you know, in high school, I watched Baby Driver like four times in theaters. I mean, now that movie’s like, ‘how many people can we get that are canceled in one movie?’
Well, let’s get you into a non-canceled Baby Driver 2. That would be awesome. I would love to see that.
There we go. We can do an uncanceled version of Baby Driver 2. That would be sick.
Thank you so much for speaking with me today. It’s been great. I think you’re so awesome. I want to see you do more. I love your work on Cobra Kai, but I can’t wait to see you do more. And maybe one day someone will convince you to do something scary one day.
You know what? Maybe. Maybe I could be the villain. And then I’d be fine. Because if I’m killing people and not worrying about being killed, maybe that’d be better.
I’m thinking an Edgar Wright bank robbery horror movie, I think there’s something there for us.
You know what? If Edgar Wright does it, I will do it for him. He seems awesome.
Thank you to Jacob Bertrand for taking the time to speak with Flickering Myth. Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.
EJ Moreno
