Which Cobra Kai Passed Away? The Real-Life Losses Behind the Show’s Most Emotional Moments

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Rob Garrison is the name that most people think of when they are asked which Cobra Kai actor died. In the 1984 movie The Karate Kid, he played Tommy, a loyal but sometimes irritable member of Johnny Lawrence’s original Cobra Kai gang. Tommy was present, even though it wasn’t the lead role. People have remembered that line, which was said with all the scary teenage angst of the All Valley tournament, for decades. When Season 2 of the Netflix sequel brought back the original cast, it felt like a real gift to fans who had grown up with the movie.

The way that reunion episode was written was what made it so unexpectedly moving. Tommy looked sick and was clearly getting weaker. He spent what seemed like his last weekend with old friends around a campfire. “Take a Right” was the name of the episode, which was a quiet reference to a single unimportant scene from the original movie. That’s almost too cool, but it wasn’t cool at all. Tommy was made up to look sick by the writers, who planned for the illness to be a part of the story. Joon Hurwitz, who helped make the show, says that no one on set knew that Garrison was about to go through something similar in real life.

He passed away on September 27, 2019. He was 59 years old. He was taken to a hospital in West Virginia for treatment of kidney and liver problems. After more than a month of getting worse, his organs finally gave out. His death happened so soon after filming what turned out to be Tommy’s last episode. It’s the kind of coincidence that doesn’t feel like a coincidence at all when you think about it. Later, Hurwitz wrote that the week they spent filming the reunion was one of the best times they’d had making the show, and Garrison said he was truly grateful to have been given material that let him act again. Somehow, that has to bring some comfort, even if the whole thing has a weight that doesn’t fully lift.

Then the team lost another one in September 2024. Chad McQueen died on September 11, 2024. He played Dutch in The Karate Kid. Dutch was the most aggressive member of Johnny’s group, and he was always one second away from going too far. His whole career was shaped by the fact that he was the son of Steve McQueen. Like Garrison, McQueen brought up his link to the world of the franchise again in the cultural conversation that Cobra Kai started again. With his death, another chapter in that 1984 story came to an end.

What’s important to note is how the show dealt with Garrison’s death in the story. In the movie, Tommy died in the woods at nite with his friends by his side. He did not die alone or in a hospital. Even though it was a made-up death, the show gave the character a sense of honor and warmth that felt like it was on purpose. What matters is not whether the writers knew what was going to happen to Garrison. People felt that what they gave him was a proper ending.

The Karate Kid franchise has grown over more than 40 years, from a movie about a kid learning how to get through high school in 1984 to a Netflix show that has been watched for billions of minutes. The actors who built the show’s first world have aged and some have left. When I watch the older episodes now, I get the feeling that there is something quietly sad going on beneath the action. Three of Johnny Lawrence’s original crew are no longer with us. As shows always do, the show went on. Some fans remember Tommy’s last scene around the campfire differently than they might have if they didn’t know what happened next for Garrison.

Some might say that’s exactly what good stories are meant to do: let real life creep in around the edges.