Cobra Kai introduces Demetri Alexopoulos as the kind of character that ensemble adolescent shows keep around for heartfelt moments and comedic relief. He is Eli’s closest friend, the group’s talker, the one with opinions about everything, and he has almost no fighting skills. He is the character who describes why he is being pushed inside lockers. He remains that way for the entire run of smaller shows. To its credit, Cobra Kai didn’t abandon him there, and when the script caught up, Gianni DeCenzo, the actor portraying him, made sure there was enough to work with.
For a young actor working in the early to mid-2010s, DeCenzo had a respectable resume when he arrived at Cobra Kai. He had worked on Liv and Maddie for the Disney Channel, appeared in ABC episodes of The Middle, developed a recurring role as Arthur Pickwickle on Nickelodeon’s 100 Things to Do Before High School beginning in 2015, and amassed the kind of credits that show someone has been in the business long enough to feel at ease in front of the camera but hasn’t yet landed the role that truly defines what they’re capable of. He was given that duty by Cobra Kai.
Demetri is a character that is actually challenging to portray properly over several seasons, so what DeCenzo does with him is worth attentively examining. Demetri’s verbosity is the source of his humor; he talks more than is necessary, discusses things that don’t need to be explained, and expresses passionate opinions about subjects no one has asked him about.
When an actor overplays that register, it becomes tiresome, especially when the program has to use Demetri for a moment with real emotional weight. However, it works well in brief sequences. It is well-modulated by DeCenzo. Because DeCenzo has been portraying Demetri as a person rather than a comic device, the moments when Demetri and Hawk’s friendship breaks down after Eli transforms into a Cobra Kai bruiser, especially the one where Hawk publically humiliates him by breaking his arm, land hard.
In the same way that it is important when someone is working on a physically demanding show, the health disclosure is part of the record here. At the age of fifteen, DeCenzo received a Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis, which he managed throughout the early stages of his career and the entirety of Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai is not a lighthearted production; it incorporates actual martial arts training, battle choreography that takes weeks to create and perform, and physical conditioning that influences the performers’ abilities on screen. It is not accidental background knowledge to manage a chronic ailment that necessitates ongoing monitoring through that type of production plan. It provides insight into what DeCenzo has been working on in addition to the obvious projects.
The Cobra Kai cast’s dynamic is revealed in a subtle way by the Nailed It appearance. DeCenzo participated in a Cobra Kai-themed episode of the Netflix baking competition show, and Mary Mouser served as a guest judge. This is precisely the kind of low-stakes, delightful cross-promotion that works when a cast truly gets along. His guest appearances on the Lone Lobos podcast, which is hosted by co-stars Xolo Maridueña and Jacob Bertrand, also point to a collaborative partnership that goes beyond the set. It’s likely one of the reasons the friendships and rivalries in Cobra Kai’s younger generation seem credible because that kind of real connection between cast members tends to show up in how moments between those actors feel on screen.
As is often the case when a long-running show comes to an end, it is actually uncertain what DeCenzo will do next. The six-season arc of Demetri is finished. The guy, who began the series as a scrawny child incapable of throwing a punch, developed into someone who took his training seriously enough to compete and hold his own. The show carried out this subdued growth without making it the main focus. It’s a challenging balance to achieve, and DeCenzo performed well the entire time.
