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Cobra Kai had an extensive main cast, with some of them going on to do big things after the show's conclusion. The ending of Cobra Kai brought an end to a six-season-long karate war, which featured a huge cast of characters throughout. Initially, Cobra Kai's connection to the Karate Kid movies was modest, with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprising their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, respectively, a few decades after the original trilogy to continue the saga on the small screen.
However, the show slowly grew in scale, be it via the introduction of wider Cobra Kai villains from past Karate Kid movies, the ever-changing roster of young fighters, worldwide karate tournaments, or all-out war between students, masters, old enemies, and new allies. With the increase in stakes came more cast members, many of whom established themselves as main players by the end of the show's run. Of course, it would take too long to run through every supporting member of Cobra Kai's cast from all six seasons and explore them in depth.
Throughout the show, though, it is safe to whittle down Cobra Kai's main cast to 13 actors. Some of these were initially part of the Karate Kid movies, while others were newcomers to the franchise for the TV show. There are even some who were introduced later in Cobra Kai's run and became increasingly important as the show went on. With all that in mind, here are the 13 main members of Cobra Kai's cast, where they are a year after the show's conclusion, and what they have been up to since then.
Ralph Macchio
Starting with the original Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio has remained firmly in the franchise since Cobra Kai's conclusion. Admittedly, Macchio never quite managed to break free of his starring role as Daniel LaRusso in the original series, which explains why Cobra Kai is undoubtedly the actor's biggest, most mainstream, and most widely known credit since the 1980s.Wisely, Macchio leaned into this, starring in Karate Kid: Legends in 2025.
Karate Kid: Legends continued Daniel's story after Cobra Kai season 6, all while blending the original Karate Kid movies with 2010's remake of the same name. Instead of simply being a standalone remake, Karate Kid: Legends made The Karate Kid part of the wider franchise by having Jackie Chan reprise his role from the latter as Mr. Han. Mr. Han and Daniel took it upon themselves to train a new Karate Kid, played by Ben Wang. Other than that, Macchio has not done any more acting work post-Cobra Kai.
William Zabka
Much like Macchio, William Zabka has found it hard to escape the confines of the Karate Kid franchise, but that is no bad thing. After all, Zabka was the heart of Cobra Kai as Johnny Lawrence, explaining why he too returned for Karate Kid: Legends in 2015. However, Zabka did not have a main role like Macchio did, instead appearing in a quick cameo for fans of Cobra Kai to get excited over. Beyond that, Zabka has been cast in a recurring role for season 2 of Scarpetta, Prime Video's crime drama starring Nicole Kidman.
Courtney Henggeler
Courtney Henggeler played Amanda LaRusso, Daniel's wife, in all six seasons of Cobra Kai. This made her an important cast member in the show, which makes it even more fitting that it was her final role in the industry. In April 2025, a few months after the final part of Cobra Kai season 6 was released on Netflix, Henggeler announced her retirement from acting. As expected, Henggeler has not appeared in any movie or TV projects since.
Xolo Maridueña
Xolo Maridueña was the successor to the Karate Kid franchise from Cobra Kai season 1, episode 1. Naturally, this gave him a huge role throughout the entire show, which has subsequently catapulted the actor into many other projects. Although the big DC superhero movie Blue Beetle was released in 2023 and, thus, before Cobra Kai's conclusion, Maridueña will reprise the titular role in an upcoming DC movie: Man of Tomorrow. This indicates that Blue Beetle will have an impact on the wider DC Universe, given that Maridueña will be rubbing shoulders with David Corenswet, Milly Alcock, Nicholas Hoult, and other huge DCU stars.
Maridueña has also appeared as a voice actor in Prime Video's Invincible in the year since Cobra Kai concluded. Looking forward, the actor will have big roles in wider Hollywood productions beyond Man of Tomorrow, starting with Practical Magic 2, a sequel to the 1990s movie, in September 2026. Maridueña has also been cast as Portgas D. Ace in Netflix's One Piece season 3, which has become one of the streaming service's most popular shows of late. Cobra Kai made Xolo Maridueña a star, and his resume since then proves it.
Mary Mouser
Mary Mouser played Samantha LaRusso, Daniel's daughter, in all six of Cobra Kai's seasons. Despite having a big role on the show, however, Mouser has not acted in any projects since Cobra Kai season 6 in February 2025. A reason for this may be Mouser's personal life, which somewhat blends with her on-screen life as Samantha. That same month, Mouser announced she was engaged to her Cobra Kai co-star, Tanner Buchanan.
Tanner Buchanan
Speaking of, Tanner Buchanan, who played Robby in Cobra Kai, has not slowed down in the industry despite his engagement to Mouser. Buchanan provided the English dub for an episode of Star Wars: Visions season 3, which was released in October 2025. In terms of upcoming roles, Buchanan's future is firmly in the horror genre; he will star in a movie titled Hide and Don't Speak, currently without a release date, as well as provide voice acting and motion capture for the upcoming video game, Until Dawn 2.
Jacob Bertrand
Jacob Bertrand played Hawk in Cobra Kai and has had limited roles since the show's ending. Two of these came in the realm of voice acting, with Bertrand working on Pokémon Concierge and the English dub for the anime Sakamoto Days. Beyond these projects, Bertrand's only other role since the ending of Cobra Kai was in a South Korean Disney+ series titled Tempest.
Gianni DeCenzo
Similarly, Gianni DeCenzo, who played Demetri in Cobra Kai, has only a few credits, upcoming or otherwise, to his name in the last year. One of these came in June 2026 when DeCenzo played Jace Kirkland in season 19, episode 6 of Criminal Minds. The only other upcoming project for DeCenzo is a TV movie titled art-ificial, in which he will play the role of Dennis Felton.
Martin Kove
Kove is the last cast member on this list to have appeared in all six seasons of Cobra Kai as John Kreese, the villain of the original movie. Since bowing out as Kreese in 2025, Kove has appeared in one feature film, with another on the horizon. The former was Killing Mary Sue, a video-on-demand action movie. The latter is an Apple TV sports comedy titled The Dink, with Kove starring alongside Jake Johnson, Ed Harris, Ben Stiller, and other actors in an all-star cast.
Peyton List
Peyton List joined Cobra Kai as Tory in season 2, lasting until the show's finale. Since then, List's only other credit comes from another TV show. In 2023, List began starring in and producing Paramount+'s School Spirits. This continued into two more seasons, the third of which was released in 2026. A fourth and final season has been ordered, giving List yet another bout of TV acting to do since Cobra Kai's conclusion.
