(This story contains spoilers from Cobra Kai Season six, part 2.)

When Cobra Kai Although Season 6 concluded Part 1 of its three-part final season in July, one main character was missing – the villain, who many fans saw as an important part of the overall story.

That character was mega-rich martial arts expert Terry Silver, played by Thomas Ian Griffith.

Viewers last saw Silver in season five, when he challenged Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) in an intense one-on-one battle for the soul of the Cobra Kai school and its students. Things weren’t looking great for LaRusso until he decided to throw in the tried-and-true “Crane Kick” to end the fight and save the day. Silver was defeated in shame and defeat.

Later, at the beginning of Part 2 of the sixth and final season of the hit Netflix saga, viewers learned that the two villains Silver and John Kreese (Martin Kove) were supposedly housed in separate prisons, but information in a local newspaper turns out to be both be untrue.

In a flashback in episode nine of season six, viewers saw that Silver managed to use his fortune for a free get out of prison card and traveled to Bangkok to join Sensei Wolf’s (Lewis Tan) Iron Dragons as his sponsored team recruit the Sekai Taikai. Wolf’s fighting style lends no credibility to official rules, and he doesn’t mind when his students severely injure their opponents (he almost demands it). Silver, also dying, seeks revenge on LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) newly reunited Miyagi-Do dojo, which made it to the tournament in Barcelona. There can be no peace for Silver until the new school and the resurgence of Cobra Kai, led by his one-time friend and now nemesis Kreese, gain some revenge.

The Hollywood Reporter I recently caught up with Griffith to talk about the journey of one of them Cobra KaiMost Popular Villains; how Silver becomes an agent of chaos and confusion in the second part of the final season; and the most rewarding part of being in the Cobra Kai Universe, which will be completed with Part 3 in 2025.

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Terry Silver always seems to have elaborate plans when plotting revenge against LaRusso and Kreese. Did you always know that Silver was coming back with the Iron Dragons?

Well, it’s funny, when they first approached me it kind of sounded like a two-season arc in four and five. And in the end Terry had worn himself out. I thought, “Oh, that was a decent ending.” And then they said, “You know, we’re wrapping up the sixth season and Terry has to be a part of it,” and I get it. Because in my opinion he is the villain who has the biggest impact on our main characters. He also has the driving energy to bring it home. Without him I think it would have been a mistake; That’s why I’m glad they brought him back at the end.

Who does Silver hate the most, Kreese or LaRusso?

They are different and I don’t like the word hate, but I think it was always a dislike for Daniel because he believed that was the opposite of what I (Terry Silver) did. And how you see someone as a student – how you meet someone for the first time – sometimes you carry that image of them with you for the rest of your life. And I think Terry probably misjudged him. But in the end I think he realizes that Daniel is a worthy opponent and that he has something to respect about that.

As for Kreese, when you have such a deep history with someone – and he was so loyal to Kreese – I think betrayal runs deep. So this betrayal is something completely different. And besides, Terry has dedicated his life to a certain philosophy, a way of life. And it all came from the lessons with Kreese. And if Kreese takes a different path and has these weaknesses, that’s just not acceptable to Terry Silver. I think he’s lost that respect for Kreese. Then he tries to kill me (in the epic Sekai Taikai brawl scene at the end of Part 2) and it’s like all moral principles and codes have been lost. Terry doesn’t try to kill him until you know what’s happening and the gloves are really off!

So Silver always caused confusion, but he kidnapped LaRusso and made him think it was Kreese…

I think Terry has such a great manipulative quality. And it’s about the question, “What can I do?” And I hope it doesn’t come across as just moustache twirling, because he’s getting into the human element. He’s taking advantage of a loss or a pain or making Daniel understand what Miyagi-Do is really about, what he should know. I think when you use things like that, where Terry has an intelligence and a worldliness about him that makes him a little different but then also makes him unpredictable, that’s always worth seeing.

Let’s talk about Terry Silver’s team, the Iron Dragons. (Terry Silver’s Iron Dragons included real-life taekwondo champion Rayna Vallandingham and British-American martial arts actor Lewis Tan as Sensei Wolf.)

Hiring this team…how can I return to this world after losing all respect? Well, he still has his money, so he can buy the best team. And he connects with the Iron Dragon team because of their philosophy. You have the closest thing to what he believes Cobra Kai should be; So he can use it to return to this world and win what he thinks would be honorable. He can’t have it, and I think it’s even more at stake because now he knows he’s going to die – he’s self-medicating, so he really has nothing to lose. We observe an unmoored Terry Silver. That’s why his relationships are colored by desperation to win this team, to have this team defeat Kreese, to defeat Miyagi-Do. And I think in the long run that’s part of his downfall because he just got lost and got caught up in all the madness. But we see some of the glimpses of Terry Silver that we loved in the ’80s. So we can get back to some of the fun stuff.

I know you are, but were there many real martial artists in those incredible fight scenes during Sekai Taikai, especially the big fight in the finale of Part 2?

I have been practicing martial arts my whole life. I think the actors on the show – I don’t know if any of them had a real martial arts background – but this stunt team worked with them and they got a lot better, whether they’re using their athletic skills or dance skills, whatever it was to really sell this.

But now in season six we’re bringing in real martial artists and it’s just been a joy to be a part of it. I mean every generation. And most of all, the little children they brought with them are simply phenomenal! Just being a part of it and saying, ‘I’m going to step up my game.’ These stunt people that I worked with were doubles for (William Zabka) or Kreese (Martin Kove), these guys were world-class martial artists; When I sit across from them I’m like, “Oh man, I can really let it out!” Once you’re in fight mode, it’s really fun because that’s something I still crave, even at my age.

I think the structure of this show is almost like every season you have the big tournament and the tournament gets bigger and then bigger. And so these guys know that this is the finale and they say, “I’m going to put the biggest tournament fight sequence imaginable in the space of one episode.” It’s pretty incredible how they did it, but they had simply phenomenal martial arts. If you look in the background you will see people doing great things.

It can get a little tiring. But then, just when you might be getting a little bored, you get involved in a warm affair with one of the characters you’re dealing with. So that’s how you maintain it. That’s the interesting thing; You go through this incredible episode and then, “Holy shit, a kid is dead.” What impact does that have? A line has been crossed and it is truly devastating. Now I say, “Oh, I want to look at the next five. I want to see what happens. If Terry didn’t moor before, what will he do now?”

Will Terry Silver be in the final five episodes?

You know, they brought me back to give me the energy and determination of Terry Silver. But the bigger picture is that this is the end. And just being part of something that was so phenomenal… I took a vacation to Greece with my wife, 10 days in between Cobra Kai And Virgin River (Griffith and his wife Mary Page Keller are two of the writers of the sixth season of this Netflix series), and I hadn’t yet understood the implications of the series’ popularity. You visit all these little islands in Greece and everyone is one Cobra Kai Fan. And you realize that you have brought joy and escape to these people. I’ve had martial artists come up to me and say, “I watched you when I was 9 years old and because of you I got into kickboxing and boxing,” and here they are as adults. And you say, “Wow! This is such a positive thing.” What an honor to be a part of this. So, I think in the end, overall, with the ending now, it was just, like I said, an honor and just a joy.

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Cobra Kai Parts 1 and 2 of the sixth and final season are now streaming on Netflix. Part 3 will be published on February 13, 2025. To read THRPart 2 of the interview with creators Hayden Schlossberg, Josh Heald and Jon Hurwitz.