Then came the 2018 premiere ofCobra Kai.
“We had a deadline at Warner Bros., and we were under pressure,” he recalls.
Were you looking to go back to acting at all?
Martin Kove (left) and Thomas Ian Griffith in ‘Cobra Kai’.netflix
GRIFFITH:You know, I’d been working as an actor my whole career.
Our two boys were young, and I was out of town literally eight months out of the year.
I said, “I have to make a change.”
Thomas Ian Griffith in ‘The Karate Kid Part III’.Columbia Pictures
Then the horse took off in that direction.
And I loved the writing processyou still get to play all the characters as you’re creating.
In fact, I drive my wife crazy when we’re in the office.
I have to say all my dialogue out loud to ensure [it works].
My wife always said, “You’ll go back eventually.”
God’s honest truth.
Then when it came up, she was the one that said, “You have to do this.
This would be incredible.”
What was your hair situation when you went into production?
Did you have to wig it at all to recreate Terry Silver’s iconic ponytail?
So I think they had to add a little piece to see to it the ponytail was as long.
You’ve been a student of martial arts your whole life.
What kind of training did you have to do to get back into kick-ass Terry Silver shape?
It’s been part of my life forever.
Like I always say, it’s my therapy.
It just grounds me and, uh, I just feel better.
And so I had kept it up.
You know, the first day doing it 12 hoursyou’re going to feel it at your age.
But they have such a great stunt team and the fight choreographer, Don Lee.
Once they saw what I’m capable of, they could expand on that and just take advantage.
Don’t make it look so easy!
It makes you feel a little old [laughs].
What can you preview about the dynamic between Terry Silver and John Kreese in season 4?
Then they brought that into season 4.
All the questions I had about what that relationship would be about got answered.
I think he’s going to cause a little trouble.
Your performance inKarate Kid Part IIIwas really big and over the top, by design.
How did you adapt your take on Terry for 2021?
I really have no interest in repeating anything.
So how do we round out a guy like that?
How do we get back to what made this guy tick?
What drove him inside and what would make him come back into this world?
The [Cobra Kai] creators had really thought that out.
And he was like, “I want every little kid in America kicking you in the shins.”
He just gave me free rein to run with it.
It’s so absurd that it’s fantastic!
Cobra Kaiseason 4 premieres Dec. 31 on Netflix.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
