Sylvester Stallone surprised fans recently when he announced his plans to turn his 1986 action thriller Cobra Would Make A Good Streaming Series (And 5 Why It Wouldn’t).
Would: It would be a fun take on the police procedural
The police procedural genre is one of the oldest in television, but with the success of shows like CSI and Law and Order and NYPD Blue, these shows tend to be characterized as grim and dark and serious (not to mention indistinguishable). A fun, zany, violent Cobra series could be just the shot in the arm that the genre needs. The character, Marion Cobretti, is so absurd and the movie’s visual style was so over-the-top explosive and violent that a TV adaptation would have to be closer to something like The A-Team or Magnum, P.I. than Criminal Minds or Blue Bloods.
Wouldn’t: The ‘80s are over
Although Cobra just isn’t relevant anymore.
Would: It would offer Stallone a second chance to nail the character
Stallone himself said at Cannes this year that the movie he made in 1986 failed to capture the awesomeness of the character he’d created. He said, “That should have been another franchise, because that character was so cool. And I blew it. My personal life got in the way.” A streaming series would offer a lucrative opportunity at a second chance to properly portray the character on-screen.
The earliest development of Cobra actually coincided with that of Beverly Hills Cop. When the producers couldn’t decide whether to make the movie a lighthearted comedy or a gritty thriller, they parted ways and two movies were made. Cobretti was conceived as a dark alternative to Axel Foley, so it would be fun to see him really embody that in an ongoing narrative.
Wouldn’t: The movie wasn’t that great, so why would a series be any better?
The last time Sylvester Stallone brought the Marion Cobretti character to the screen, audiences were less than impressed. It might be a cult hit now, but Cobra has instead come to be appreciated ironically by viewers who can enjoy how insane and cheesy it is. Will those viewers really want to commit to an ongoing TV series? The movie wasn’t dreadful, but it did struggle to maintain the audience’s attention for 87 minutes, so how’s it going to maintain their attention for ten or so hour-long episodes?
Would: It can get meta
Marion Cobretti is the kind of brash, chauvinistic, catchphrase-skewing action hero that shows like Archer and Pacific Heat make fun of, so maybe Stallone could reinvent the character as a sort of parody of himself, leaning into the ludicrousness even more than the movie did. Much in the way that Cobra TV series could be self-aware, with sly winks to the camera – not breaking the fourth wall, just accepting its own silliness.
Wouldn’t: The premise is inherently sexist
The premise of has since been recognized as inherently sexist. Although the premise of the streaming series, or at least some of its story arcs, would be different from this, it still casts a politically incorrect shadow over the whole thing that would ultimately become its downfall in a barrage of think pieces if the project ever moved forward.
Would: It would be unlike anything else on the air right now
With most new TV series Cobra, but at least it’ll feel new and unique.
Wouldn’t: No one else could play the role as well as Stallone
Sylvester Stallone has confirmed that if he does revive Cobra as a streaming series, he won’t be the one playing the title character. But no one else could. Stallone wrote that character for himself at the peak of his fame in the ‘80s.
Cobretti was written for a very specific kind of movie star – a kind that simply doesn’t exist anymore – in a very specific era of action cinema, which has long since ed. If Stallone doesn’t play Cobra himself, which he isn’t, then the series will be basically redundant, so there would be no point making it in the first place.
Would: It could get political
In today’s climate, every movie and TV show has political overtones, so audiences are getting political overtone fatigue. However, there is a lucrative opportunity with the at the height of the conservative, patriotic Reagan era, and now, a Reagan-like leader is back in power. The key difference is that today’s climate may be conservative, but it’s not necessarily patriotic. The streaming series could see Cobretti facing consequences for his outdated worldview. It could be interesting.
Wouldn’t: No one wants it
It seems like every single week, our multiplexes are hit with a franchise reboot. And that’s without factoring in all the reboots that appear on streaming and television. And audiences seem okay with that, because there are a lot of franchises they like, a lot of characters they want to see more of, and a lot of movies they want to see updated with newer VFX technology. But of Cobra isn’t one of them. In fact, it’s not even a franchise. It’s a standalone movie meant to set up a franchise. If it failed to become a franchise back in 1986, why would it suddenly succeed at becoming a franchise today?