Cobra Kai’s Hiro Koda and Jahnel Curfman on the show’s amazing stunts

Cobra Kai’s action starts with stunt coordinators Jahnel Curfman and Hiro Koda, who told Hidden Remote how they make the fights come together.

TV fans love the fight sequences in YouTube Premium’s Cobra Kai, which are some of the show’s best moments. But do you know what it takes to make those action scenes happen?

Hiro Koda and Jahnel Curfman are the stunt coordinators for Cobra Kai, and they connected with Hidden Remote to discuss how they create and prepare for each of the fights that audiences see on screen. Find out why their work is worthy of Emmy consideration, which one of them has a background with the Power Rangers, and the one thing about stunt work that they wish everyone knew.

Meet Jahnel Curfman and Hiro Koda in our interview below, then watch their work unfold when you stream Cobra Kai season 2 on YouTube Premium here.

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Cobra Kai has not one, but two distinct styles of martial arts. How does that affect your work as stunt coordinators?

Jahnel Curfman: We definitely take into consideration the different styles of martial arts in choreography. When we are going through the Cobra Kai style, it is much different than the Miyagi-do, which is more a traditional Japanese style.

We get to take a little bit of liberty with Cobra Kai in making it a little bit more violent, a little more brutal. We had a lot of fun with the two different styles, [and] we definitely keep that in mind and keep the distinctions between the two styles when we’re doing the choreography.

The Cobra Kai cast has some actors who’ve got experience in the Karate Kid franchise, and others who are brand new. So how do you work with the actors when they have varying levels of fight experience?

Hiro Koda: When we start any show and start working with our actors, our first bit of training that we do is to assess the individuals on what they’re capable of doing and how well they move. That goes in with our choreography of starting to put things together. We know what they are able and comfortable to do and what they look good doing.

That’s where we design the action, kind of catering to each character on how they move. The fun part of having the different styles between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do is that each of those characters on those two sides have very different fighting styles within themselves as well.

JC: We also do cater to individual strengths. Like Billy [Zabka], there are certain things that he’s really good at and that he enjoys doing. The same with Ralph [Macchio], there are certain things he does better than others. We always try to cater to the individual actors’ strengths. There is a difference when we’re working with our older generation as opposed to the younger generation, and in trying to keep the styles different, we also try to keep the generational styles different as well.

You’ve worked on several other hit series, including Stranger Things and Big Little Lies. What was it about Cobra Kai that you think resonated to get you an Emmy nomination?

JC: I think when Cobra Kai came around, it was sort of that divine timing, where Hiro and I were both available to come on to this show at the time that they were veering off and getting ready to start. Knowing the history of The Karate Kid and reading the script and where they were going to take the show really was intriguing. We were anxious to see what Jon [Hurwitz], Josh [Heald] and Hayden [Schlossberg], the three creators of the show, were going to go with it and what might happen.

Are there things you learn on one show that you can apply to another, or do you have to start completely over with each series that you work on?

HK: Every show is different. One thing we do try to keep is depending on what kind of show it is, if it’s fight-heavy, then obviously our training, the choreography’s not the same. The way we go about accessing and training, and the days of training and how we train our actors is pretty much the same. But every show is pretty unique on its own and so it’s always different.

For something like Cobra Kai, because it’s 30 minutes long and we don’t have a whole lot of time to shoot, there’s a lot of things that can happen, so we prep as much as possible prior to filming. Things are always going to change on the day of, so you have to be able to go with the flow and be able to adjust to what’s happening—if we’re running out of time or the set’s not exactly what we thought it was going to be. Things change constantly and you’ve got to be ready to adapt.

Hiro, you were part of the Power Rangers franchise in multiple series. How often does that still come up for you?

HK: I consistently get Power Rangers. It comes up all the time. A lot of people on different shows lately have been finding or researching me and finding pictures of me on Power Rangers or in my blue Power Ranger suit. They always say, “I can’t believe you’re a Power Ranger! You’re one of the originals!” That comes up quite often. I’m working with Dacre Montgomery now on Stranger Things [and] he was in the newer Power Rangers feature film, so it’s kind of a full-circle moment.

Jahnel, you have your own fandom badge of honor too though, because you were involved with Agent Carter. How was that experience?

JC: I was really sad when that got canceled. I came in and doubled Bridget Regan for a couple of episodes and it was a really cool show to be a part of, in just the fact it was a period piece and part of the Marvel family. And Bridget was amazing. That was a lot of fun to be a part of.

What’s one thing about being a stunt performer or stunt coordinator that you wish TV fans were more aware of?

HK: What’s great is lately there have been a lot of podcasts and shows that highlight what is going on behind the scenes. Focusing on all the people that are behind the camera that actually put these shows together, because your average American doesn’t know what’s put into them. Not just stunts, but all the departments. There’s so much that goes into it that it’s great to have all the things come out. Just finding out what people need to do behind the camera that we’ve never seen on camera.

JC: TV is really difficult. With a feature film, it comes with a 250-page script and three months of prep, and you go in and shoot and you’re done. Whereas with TV, you get hundreds and thousands of pages of script over the course of a few months, and you’re constantly prepping while you’re shooting and you don’t have all those months of prep. You’re shooting episode one while prepping episode two and choreographing and rehearsing for it, but also shooting simultaneously, which is challenging.

Cobra Kai season 2 is streaming now on YouTube Premium, with the first episode available for free on the show’s YouTube channel.