Obliterated: The Cobra Kai creators on how they cast 80s legend C. Thomas Howell in their new show

Last Updated on December 15, 2023

Recently, I was lucky enough to interview Cobra Kai creators Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald about their brand-new Netflix show, Obliterated. The series, which follows a very inebriated Navy SEAL team trying to take down a terrorist cell in Vegas, is a hilarious mix of intense action and comedy headed by a terrific cast that includes Nick Zano and Shelley Hennig. Yet, of everyone, the show is all but stolen by eighties legend C. Thomas Howell, who shows up as the group’s somewhat insane bomb expert.

In the show, Howell’s character, Haggerty, seems to save the day in the opening action sequence and celebrates by getting – as the title suggests – Obliterated. Yet, while the rest of the team indulges mostly in booze (and some mild drugs), he goes all in anything he can find, winding up comatose for several episodes. He steals the show being carried around Weekend at Bernies-style by the cast, and Hurwitz, Schlossberg and Heald told me they were very psyched as 80s fans when he turned up to audition:

As you can see by the clip, the three guys were very aware of Howell’s eighties fame from movies like The Outsiders, Secret Admirer, and, yes, the somewhat controversial Soul Man. Howell is the show’s William Zabka in that it shows how some of these eighties guys, when given the chance to shine, are primed and ready for significant comebacks. If Obliterated takes off, hopefully, Howell gets more of an opportunity to shine. To note to anyone who’s watched the show so far. Howell does a full frontal scene, and the guys, thinking he would be modest, made him a prosthetic. He refused to wear it, so what you see is all Howell. #Legend

Obliterated is now streaming on Netflix. Check out our review!