Karate Kid characters Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence are coming back on the YouTube Red show Cobra Kai, and now we know more about what they will be doing — as well as who they will be interacting with.
Image: Sony
Entertainment Weekly revealed a bunch of new information about the show, including the first new casting. First up, here’s who’s on the show and who they are playing, besides Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, of course.
Courtney Henggeler (CBS’ Mum) plays Amanda, Daniel’s wife and business partner. Together they own a successful car dealership. (Fun side note: Henggeler was only two years old when the original Karate Kid was released.) Mary Mouser, from NCIS, Freakish, and Scandal, is Samantha, Daniel and Amanda’s daughter. She’s a popular high school student.
Xolo Maridueña (NBC’s Parenthood) plays Miguel Diaz, a young high school kid struggling with bullying who begins to learn karate with Johnny and the Cobra Kai. Tanner Buchanan from ABC’s Designated Survivor is Robby Keene — Johnny’s son, who’s trying not to make the same mistakes his dad did.
Finally there’s Ed Asner. Yes, that Ed Asner. He plays Sid Weinberg, a former studio executive and Johnny’s disapproving stepfather.
They will join Macchio reprising his role as Daniel, who is pretty happy with his family and successful business, and Zabka as Johnny, who is a down-and-out loser barely scraping together a living. Here are the two actors together on the Atlanta set of the show.
Image: Entertainment Weekly/Mark Hill
Cobra Kai is being written by Josh Heald (Hot Tub Time Machine) along with Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (the Harold and Kumar movies). Hurwitz and Schlossberg are directing and it’s expected to hit YouTube Red in 2018.