Are All the Actors in Cobra Kai From Karate Kid? The Answer Is More Interesting Than You Think

Many people immediately wondered, “Wait, are those actually the same actors?” when Cobra Kai first made an appearance on YouTube Red in 2018. The ones in the films? It didn’t seem very likely. After thirty years, with everyone dispersed across various careers and lives, sequels and reboots seldom succeed in bringing back their original casts. However, the show succeeded in some way. At least in part.

To put it succinctly, not every actor in Cobra Kai is from The Karate Kid. However, it’s in the longer response that things become truly fascinating.

Two returning faces serve as the show’s cornerstone. William Zabka returns as Johnny Lawrence, and Ralph Macchio plays Daniel LaRusso again. After about thirty years of fictional silence, the rivalry and history have resumed. The fact that both men are now in their fifties makes it worthwhile to watch them perform fight choreography. Although it doesn’t appear effortless, it does appear genuine. Younger actors might not carry the same weight.

The returning cast list is longer than most fans probably anticipated, aside from the two leads. Returning as John Kreese, Martin Kove is perhaps more sinister in the series than he was in the movies. Terry Silver, a character who hardly made an appearance in Karate Kid Part III but develops into one of the show’s most complex antagonists, was played by Thomas Ian Griffith once again. One of the more subdued surprises of the entire run is Yuji Okumoto’s return as Chozen from Part II. Kumiko was reprised by Tamlyn Tomita. Ali Mills was played by Elisabeth Shue. Even a few members of Johnny’s former dojo crew, who terrorized Daniel in the first movie while wearing those black gis, returned for scenes. Tommy’s actor, Rob Garrison, made a comeback prior to his passing in 2019. Even though the reunion was short, there was a certain weight to it.

There are some noteworthy exceptions, one of which is superior to the others. Years before Cobra Kai started, Pat Morita, who portrayed Mr. Miyagi, died in 2005. His absence is handled delicately in the show. Miyagi is present everyplace, including in Daniel’s speech, the bonsai trees, and the pictures, but the character is never recast. In one scene from season two, an additional actor is seen standing in Miyagi’s backyard from behind, and it works because the show doesn’t attempt to go any farther. In a sense, his spirit permeates every episode.

The other half of the cast consists of characters who are completely unrelated to the original movies. Miguel Diaz, Johnny’s first and possibly most significant pupil, is portrayed by Xolo Maridueña. Robby Keene is portrayed by Tanner Buchanan. Daniel’s daughter, Samantha LaRusso, is Mary Mouser. Later, Peyton List entered as Tory. There are no movie versions of these characters in the archives; they are not legacy characters. They were created from the ground up, are brand-new, and aren’t used as filler in the show. Compared to some returning names, a number of them receive more screen time and emotional growth.

In fact, Cobra Kai’s success stems from that division between the familiar and the entirely new. People are drawn in by the nostalgia. They have an incentive to stay because of the new characters. If the show had relied solely on callbacks and reunions, it might have felt empty without them.

Are all of the actors in Cobra Kai from The Karate Kid, then? No. However, those who made the decision to return and play characters they had portrayed decades before brought something that is difficult to replicate. Those performances have a lived-in quality that can only be achieved by genuinely having a past with a character. The new cast recognized this and built upon it.

The end product is a series that, somewhat surprisingly, simultaneously feels like a sequel and its own thing.