MTV Names Cobra Kai's Johnny Lawrence as Greatest "Zero to Hero" of All Time

MTV spent Sunday evening handing out its Greatest of All Time awards, highlighting the best [...]

By Charlie Ridgely

MTV spent Sunday evening handing out its Greatest of All Time awards, highlighting the best moments in TV and film over the years. The awards show, hosted by Vanessa Hudgens, honored some of the best heroes, villains, dances, and kisses in film history. The Zero to Hero Award, was handed to The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai star William Zabka, for his portrayal of Johnny Lawrence. Some of Cobra Kai's younger stars were on-hand at to present Zabka with the award.

Johnny Lawrence was the villain of The Karate Kid, which was released back in 1984. In 2018, 34 years later, the franchise was revived with the Cobra Kai TV series, marking the return of Zabka's Johnny and Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso. Through this new story, Zabka's character has been able to grow and become more of a hero than he was back in the '80s, earning him the MTV Award. You can watch Zabka's acceptance speech below!

This past year, Netflix bought the rights to Cobra Kai from YouTube and debuted the first two seasons (which had already aired) on its service. The third season will be released on Netflix early next year. Zabka spoke with ComicBook.com over the summer about what fans can expect from the new season.

"Well, nothing is as it seems, I can tell you that," Zabka told us. "Listen, for the character of Johnny, Ali, I've been saying this for the last two seasons, she's a big missing piece of his life. She's the love that got away and in some form would love to reconnect. But the show is full of surprises."

"Well, I could tell you this much. I mean, the end of Season 2 is a car wreck essentially. There's a lot of pieces to put back together," he continued. "There's a lot of healing that has to happen. There's a lot of growing that needs to happen. I've seen a lot of fan theories out there, and heard a lot of fan theories Nice tries. It's awesome. I mean, Season 3 is fireworks. And I think it's Season 1 and 2 combined on steroids. And it was a blast to shoot and it's gonna be worth the wait. It's hard. We were hoping it would be out before now too, but the world is what it is right now, and we're so happy to be at a great home like Netflix. And for our fans that have already seen the show to watch it and watch it again, and the new fans to come on board. There's a lot of work to get Season 3 ready. It's getting translated for 30 countries and all that stuff."

Have you been digging Cobra Kai since it arrived on Netflix? Are you excited to check out Season 3 next year? Let us know in the comments!

The third season of Cobra Kai arrives on Netflix January 8, 2021.

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