Here's everything that happened to Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) in the decades between The Karate Kid trilogy and Cobra Kai. Along with Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita), Daniel was the protagonist of The Karate Kid films released from 1984-1989. He was briefly mentioned in the 1994 sequel The Next Karate Kid, which starred Pat Morita and Hilary Swank, but LaRusso wouldn't reappear in the saga until Cobra Kai, set 34 years after the original Karate Kid movie. Daniel's co-lead in Cobra Kai is his old high school rival, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).

The timespan of Daniel's Karate Kid trilogy is only about 16 months. LaRusso's story begins when he moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles with his mother Lucille (Randee Heller) in the summer of 1984. Daniel immediately became enemies with Johnny, the top student of the Cobra Kai dojo, because LaRusso started dating Johnny's ex-girlfriend, Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue). Johnny and Daniel's teenage rivalry culminated when LaRusso defeated Lawrence at the All Valley Karate Tournament. The next summer, Daniel accompanied Mr. Miyagi to Okinawa and found himself caught up in a personal vendetta against his sensei, as seen in The Karate Kid Part II. At the end of the summer, Daniel and Miyagi turned to LA and opened a bonsai tree shop together, but LaRusso found himself targeted by Cobra Kai's Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and John Kreese (Martin Kove) in The Karate Kid Part III. However, Daniel ultimately foiled their revenge plot and defeated their student, Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) to defend his All Valley Karate Championship.

Related: Cobra Kai's Worst Student Was Daniel (& Why He Joined His Enemies)

Daniel's story, along with Johnny's, picked up in Cobra Kai season 1, which began in 2018 and is now ongoing, with Cobra Kai season 3 set to premiere on Netflix in 2021. But The Karate Kid sequel TV series did fill in a lot of what happened to LaRusso in the 34-year interim. First, Mr. Miyagi mentioned Daniel to his new student, Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank) in The Next Karate Kid, which established that Daniel was no longer living in Miyagi's house, as he did in The Karate Kid Part II and III. Daniel and Miyagi also opened a bonsai tree store called Mr. Miyagi's Little Trees but that business eventually failed. LaRusso then began selling cars, originally for a used car dealership, which set the stage for Daniel's incredibly successful career.

Cobra Kai

Sometime before 2000, Daniel met Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) when they worked together at a car dealership. They were even known as "Danny and Mandy, the best sales team in the Valley". Daniel and Amanda married and they opened the LaRusso Auto Group in 2002 while she was pregnant with their daughter Samantha (Mary Mouser). LaRusso Auto Group became one of the San Fernando Valley's most successful car dealerships, and Daniel became a local celebrity who was a familiar face on billboards and TV spots. Samatha was born in the summer of 2002 and their son Anthony (Griffin Santopietro) was born in 2008. Daniel also hired his cousin Louie (Bret Ernst) to work at LaRusso Auto Group. In addition, Daniel kept in touch with some high school friends on Facebook, like Ali Mills, who is now Dr. Ali Schwarber, a pediatric surgeon in Denver, Colorado.

Sadly, Mr. Miyagi died on November 15, 2011, at age 86. Miyagi left his house to Daniel, which LaRusso maintained out of respect for his best friend and beloved mentor. Daniel also turned one of the rooms in his spacious home in Sherman Oaks, California into a dojo reminiscent of the one in the Miyagi family's home in Okinawa. 8-year-old Samantha became Daniel's student until she drifted away from wanting to learn karate as a teenager. (Sam became Daniel's student once more when he reopened the Miyagi-Do dojo in Cobra Kai season 2.)

Though he was busy and fulfilled with his family and business, Daniel still kept an eye on the local karate scene; as a former high school champion and prominent businessman, LaRusso joined the city athletic committee, which oversees the All Valley Karate Tournament, and Daniel unsuccessfully tried to use his influence to keep Johnny's resurrected Cobra Kai from competing in season 1.

Next: What To Expect From Cobra Kai Season 3