Cobra Kai Star Dallas Dupree Young Dishes On Why Kenny Is More Like Daniel Than You Might Think

Dallas Dupree Young told Looper that when he joined “Cobra Kai,” it was clear the creative minds behind the series wanted to reach “every single kid who’s struggling with bullying.” To do that, though, it meant that Kenny would eventually turn from the bullied kid to being a bully himself — a role he dutifully accepted to help paint a much bigger picture.

“The whole entire twist was so well executed from the creators of the show, Jon [Hurwitz], Josh [Heald], and Hayden [Schlossberg]. Whenever they gave me the layout of the whole entire season with my character’s arc, I was mesmerized,” Young recalled. “You could tell the arc was going to be special, and it was going to have a lot of purpose in it and a lot of meaning.”

Interestingly, Young added, Kenny’s story arc doesn’t only draw from Daniel’s travails in the first “Karate Kid” movie — it also reflects Daniel’s fall from grace in “The Karate Kid Part III.”

“It’s cool that my character has moments that are direct homages to Daniel LaRusso and his journey,” Young observed. “It’s cool how my character goes from a kid — who’s the sweetest kid — and then toward the end of Season 4, you see me beat up Anthony LaRusso. It reminds me of when Daniel was trained with Mr. Miyagi, and then Terry Silver got Daniel [in “The Karate Kid Part III”]. He turned to that side for a little bit. Ultimately, he went back to Miyagi, but still, he went through that phase of going to the bad side. I thought that was so well planned by the creators and writers of the show.”

All five seasons of “Cobra Kai” are streaming exclusively on Netflix.