Split into three parts, Cobra Kai Season 6 carries the best Karate Kid project. until today to a conclusion - although not necessarily the end, given the stated desire of the creators to set spin-off centered on the beloved "Karate Kid" sensei Mr. Miyagi (the late Pat Morita, with Brian Takahashi playing the younger iteration of the character in "Cobra Kai"). The show is known for honoring its past in general and the cast of the original Karate Kid film trilogy in particular, and the latest season is no exception. The first episode of Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 2, titled "Benwinguts in Barcelona," features a touching tribute to Chad McQueen, who plays Johnny Lawrence's (William Zabka) Cobra Kai co-star Dutch in The Karate Kid (1984) and its 1986 sequel, The Karate Kid II.

McQueen died on September 11, 2024 at the age of 63, while Benvinguts a Barcelona was released just two months later on November 15. That means the show honored the actor the first chance he got with a credit card featuring a picture of McQueen's character with the actor's name, years of birth and death, and the time-honored tagline: "Cobra Kai Never Dies." ".

Chad McQueen's Dutchman is one of the few notable characters from the first three The Karate Kid films that does not appear in the present-day Cobra Kai timeline. When his old Cobra Kai group of friends Johnny, Bobby (Ron Thomas), Jimmy (Tony O'Dell) and Tommy (Rob Garrison) reunite in the Season 2 episode "Take a Right," we learn that this is because Dutch is in jail. Series co-creator Josh Held said TV line in 2024 there were numerous attempts to bring the Dutchman back into the fold, however:

“We love Chad McQueen so much. We were very lucky to meet him and sit down with him, and we explored the possibility of bringing him on the show many times. We tried to get him out in season 2, and the schedule wasn't He couldn't be there with the rest of the OG Cobras because they're kind of riding a motorbike for Tommy episode 5, and the production schedule was so unbearable that we looked again, 'How can we bring it to this world? Because the Dutchman is such an important character for us."

As it stands, McQueen's Dutchman gets his Cobra Kai laurels solely through flashbacks and anecdotes. Tragically enough, the actor isn't the only member of the original Cobra Kai cast to receive recognition. The reason the gang gets back together in Season 2 is Tommy, who faces a serious illness and dies before the end of the episode. Sadly, Rob Garrison himself passed away in 2019 at just 59 years old, and he received a tribute, much like McQueen's, in the Cobra Kai season 3 opener, Later.