Fans of Cobra Kai, the Netflix juggernaut based on the popular Karate Kid movies, were thrilled when the show started bringing back some of their favorite supporting characters from the original film. In an exclusive interview with Popthrill, Cobra Kai star Ron Thomas, who played Bobby in the first Karate Kid movie, talks about being told about returning to his character and an idea he has for a Cobra Kai spinoff.
As fans of the Karate Kid know, even though Bobby was one of the Cobra Kai bullies, he was the most compassionate of the crew, and was the one to speak out about Daniel having had enough.
Once the creators of the show informed him that this idea had been years in the making and wanted to bring the original Cobra Kai students back for this series, Thomas had no idea what to expect and was somewhat shocked when they turned the former bad boy into a pastor.
“If I was the writer, I don’t know that I would have written Bobby as a pastor, I probably wouldn’t have thought of that,” Thomas shares. “I’m a motivational speaker in real life also, and once I knew I was coming back, and before the call with those guys, I thought maybe he’s an orthopedic knee surgeon, repenting for what he did to Daniel.”
Another idea was having him been a motivational speaker or working for a non-profit and creating a dojo for underprivileged kids.
“When they told me I would be a pastor, I thought it was genius,” he says. “It was definitely in line with Bobby always trying to steer people in the right direction; especially as a conflicted pastor. He’s not opposed to getting in a bar brawl and going out with his buddies and having a few beers. It definitely stems from the original with Bobby being the good guy of the bad guys and knowing when a line was crossed.”
Thomas notes a lot of fans on social media want Thomas to have his own spin-off, something along the lines of Bobby Preacher, Karate Teacher.
“I was playing on line with Susan Gallagher who plays homeless Lynn, and we are social media buddies,” he explains. She has a site called Homeless Lynn Theories, and Thomas posted one where Pastor Bobby takes her in, cleans her up, teaches her to become a black-belt and then the two teach underprivileged kids thanks to funding from the church.
“I was doing it for fun, but now the fans want to see it,” Thomas says. “I know they are thinking spinoffs. Who knows? Who thought we’d be here talking about it all these years later?”
See Cobra Kai star Ron Thomas in seasons 2 and 3 now streaming on Netflix.
