‘Pinch me. It’s unreal’: The ‘Cobra Kai’ kids open up about forced marriages and the franchise’s medium-bending legacy

Cobra Kai‘s Mary Mouser and Tanner Buchanan recently opened up about portraying Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) children and continuing The Karate Kid‘s legacy.

For six seasons, Buchanan has starred as Johnny’s son, Robby, while Mouser portrays Daniel’s daughter, Sam. In the show, Daniel is sucked back into the world of karate when Johnny decides to revive the Cobra Kai dojo. Their children quickly become involved as the tension between the rivals spills onto the next generation. Cobra Kai proved to be one of Netflix’s most successful original series, earning a total of six seasons and serving as a fitting continuation of the Karate Kid franchise. While the series is ending with its sixth season, spinoffs remain a possibility. For now, the cast is reflecting on the show’s legacy and what it was like to be known as Johnny and Danny’s children.

Mary Mouser and Tanner Buchanan on Cobra Kai’s legacy

Recently, Mouser and Buchanan spoke to The Mary Sue‘s Rachel Leishman about their Cobra Kai experience. She asked them what it was like to essentially live every child’s dream of portraying Johnny and Danny’s children and whether they had any fun reactions from fans for their characters and roles in The Karate Kid‘s legacy. Mouser responded, “Absolutely. Like, it’s, it’s so pinch me. It’s unreal,” while Buchanan admitted to sometimes forgetting his TV family connections. He explained:

I forget it constantly. When I do the thing, and they’re like, ‘I love your dad on the show, ’cause he was the guy I looked up to in the eighties,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, who?’ And they’re like, ‘Johnny.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, wait, that’s right … you know, my dad’s child. Yeah…

Since Mouser and Buchanan hang out in real life, too, they’ve had some amusing experiences with fans referring to Johnny and Daniel as their “dads,” as if Johnny and Daniel were a couple. She stated:

Yeah. I will say the fans are the best about that … Tanner and I obviously — we hang out all the time. And so when people see us out and about, they immediately come. They’re like, ‘Oh my God, I love your dads.’ And now I, like, have this image in my head of what a funny life that would be. If Johnny and Daniel had had to end up in some sort of forced marriage situation … Dads … we love our dads, too…

Regarding the legacy of Cobra Kai, Buchanan noted, “It’s a crazy cool, surreal thing that is now part of our lives forever. You know … as long as TV still exists and people can watch the show.” Mouser agreed, “It’ll always exist in our hearts. But for real, we’ve, like, I’ve learned so much from Ralph, and he has been so kind and welcoming and gracious to bring me into his life and let me be a part of his world off camera that, I’m just, I learned so much from him, and he’s such a genuinely important force in my life, that I’m so grateful for. So, it’s very easy to feel right at home. And to feel a lot of pride and gratitude when somebody says, ‘Oh my God, your dad was my favorite character ever.’ I’m like, yeah, he was.”

Buchanan provided further insight into their relationship with Macchio and Zabka, stating, “Yeah, he’s [Macchio] the best. And Billy [Zabka] does the same thing. I mean, he even texted all of us on Christmas. Mm-hmm. I’m like, ‘Merry Christmas. What are you guys doing?’ Like, we got pictures of his kids with their presents.” Mouser concluded, “Yeah. It’s definitely a family. Yeah.”