After a huge brawl between Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do leads to Miguel being put in a hospital, Samantha must bring the rest of her team together to make sure they are no longer pushed around by Tory and John Kreese’s new Cobra Kai. Screen Rant was fortunate enough to sit in on a roundtable with Mary Mouser who plays Daniel Laruso’s daughter and Tory a new student and extremely skilled fighter who joined Cobra Kai. And we got to learn what to expect after the huge brawl and what our characters will face going into season 3
After huge success on Youtube for their first 2 seasons, Netflix has decided to be the new home for Cobra Kai and help carry on the Karate Kid Franchise. Be ready to see which dojo reigns the Valley in season 3 premiering a week early on January 1, 2021.
Hello. Congratulations on another amazing season. Karen Butler UPI. I was just wondering since the scenes are so intense, both physically and emotionally, how do you keep that tension in check when you're dealing with each other off screen?
Mary Mouser: I feel like, especially with Peyton, we just have a lot of fun. It's more hard to put the tension on than it is to take it off and they get like, we literally like, I'll literally look at it right before and I'll just think to myself, like if someone, I don't like, like, how do I get angry? Peyton because I really like goofing off in between shots and like talking about whatever we're talking about. Like, Oh, I'm moving to be seen. Like, what do you want to do? Like, what are you having for life? And then like we, then we had to go and it's like, all right. All right. Actually we start like jumping up and down, like pump, pump ourselves up, like are jumping up and down. Like ready to go. Ready to go. I hate you, let's go.
Peyton List: Yeah, I completely agree. I think in the second season, it was almost easier when we didn't see each other at all. We didn't really know each other. The more I get to know Mary and the more sweetie she's obsessed with Disney and she sings Disney songs and is a, basically a princess. So I feel like it gets harder as I get to know her. I'm like, all right, I can't know Mary too well, because it's hard to, I get why some actors are like, I'm not going to talk to my, the person who plays my enemy and I'm just never going to get to know them so I can hate them from the far. Thank you.
Hi Peyton, you know Tory is so angry. I sort of just want to give her a hug and say, get out of this cycle. It's breaking you, do you have a lot of empathy for that cycle she's involved in and how teenagers sort of react even more drastically to those sorts of emotions?
Peyton List: Oh, that's really nice that you said that I that's exactly how I feel and I see exactly where Tori's coming from. And yeah, I think you see that with a lot of teenagers and especially once I've never really been shown any love or, you know, support and they feel really alone. And I think it's easy to hate in that situation, and it's much harder to see the light and to show mercy. But I, yeah, I feel the same way with Tori. I just hope that she finds, she needs the right sensei. I think the right, you know, the right guidance. But yeah, I do just want to, I, I see where she's coming from and I feel, I feel for her.
The brawl really shook Samantha, and she's never really been in a fight like this. Do you think that Daniel prepared her for situations like this?
Mary Mouser: I think there's no way to prepare, especially your own child for the thought of like one day a girl is going to punch you in the hallways and it's going to incite an all out brawl and good luck with that. You know what I mean? Like, I don't really know that there's any way to prepare for that. I do think that, you know, Samantha, especially in the years, like right before season one, when we kind of like meet her there, you know, there's a gap there where she wasn't, she stopped being daddy's little girl and wanted to start kind of fitting in at school and things like that. And I'm sure she stopped listening to whatever advice he had to say for a little bit. And you know, is in season two, kind of trying to find her way back to karate and trying to find her way back to, you know, her connection with her dad. And now he's her sensei. So there's like a double kind of, you know, mentorship connection there. And, and I think she's like needing that and looking for it, but I don't know that she's fully there yet. So I feel like, you know, Daniel does his best and at the same time, I'm sure I can't attest to this yet in my life, but I'm sure as a parent, you don't ever want to imagine that your child, whether you're teaching them karate or not is ever going to be in such a situation. So I have to say, I don't know that they've had that talk that sit down and talk yet, but I think definitely afterwards, there's going to be a sit down, talk of like, all right, here's how we don't let this happen again.
Peyton, you are very fun to watch on this show because you're the ultimate villain. Tell, tell us how much fun you do have playing Tori and how do you shut it off at the end of the day?
Peyton List: Gosh. I tell you it's such a dream role and I have the best time. So it makes me happy that it's fun to watch because it is the most fun role I've ever had the chance to play. And every day I'm just like, how did I get this? And how am I here? I love this so much. I mean, the writers, John, Josh and Hayden, they always joke. They're like, we just wanted the challenge of taking, they just love a good challenge. And they liked taking this girl who was from Disney and being like, yeah, she could give me the opportunity and say, yeah, she can do it. And I really appreciated them saying that. And then seeing that in me from my audition, because I feel like, you know, a lot of people would be like, ah, box me in and say, Oh, she can't do it. And let's, let's move on. So, I mean, when I go in there every day, like, I mean, I, I go home and it's kinda hard for me to turn it off because I'm so excited. I feel like I'm always watching videos of the stunts and like trying to practice and but also, yeah, I mean, I do turn it off, but also Tory has taught me a lot about my life and the show has taught me a lot. And yeah, I'm just grateful for the whole thing,
Mary. I wanted to ask you when we see Sam again at the beginning of season three, she's obviously still traumatized by what she went through at the end of season two. How was it for you to just play that emotional arc with her and live in that trauma?
Mary Mouser: Because so many other shows might've just been like, okay, six months later and she's fine, but you have to live with that for at least the beginning of the season. Yeah. And that was actually something I was really excited about, about going into season three. Because, you know, I think the whole show takes a turn in season three to be a little grittier and go into a little more of the emotion in keeping with the fun and the, the kick-ass and all of that. But it also, you know, kind of got to add all these new layers to play with in the repercussions from season two for Samantha specifically, I think there's, you know, just so much going on inside and to imagine, you know, she's struggling with two somewhat failed for lack of a better term relationships that aren't making sense. And, you know, especially at that age, really take your whole heart. And then, you know, this girl who swooped in stole her boyfriend, stole her closest friend from childhood and, you know, and, and karate is taking over the school and it's all the, the bad side of karate and all this, I think there's so much like going into it. So I wanted to take it super seriously and portray it as honestly as possible. And so I did that by connecting a lot of Samantha's struggles with my own life, which, you know, isn't so hard. I think a lot of Smith's struggles are very human struggles of the heart and of the head not necessarily catching up with the heart. And you know, I was, I was actually pretty excited to get to dive into that and to be as truthful as I possibly could. So that me at, you know, 15, 16 watching the show or me now sitting down, watching the show could be like, Oh, I, I see myself in that struggle. And I see that, you know, with the right guidance, I could get out of it or I can pull myself out of that. And like, wanting to know that, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel when I was trying to portray the tunnel as honestly as possible, but also showing, you know, that there, there is another side to work toward. It just takes work.
The show does such a good job of examining important issues like bullying and also like the wealth divide. Do you think that those are really important issues that are resonating with younger viewers?
Mary Mouser: I definitely think so. I hope so. I think, you know, this up and coming generation specifically is woke and knows a lot more about the world than I think I did at that moment in my life. And that's exciting and it makes me want to challenge myself to learn and try harder. I'm very inspired by our younger viewers who are coming to us with tough questions. Like, why would you do something like that? How, you know, how did you get into this mess? And it's like, wow, like, yeah. I mean, I guess that is a great question. How does Samantha have money versus Tori, maybe not coming from that situation? How does that influence the ways that they collide and, and how much does that influence one's opinion of another? And and I think it's, you know, important also that the show takes on the idea that just because you've been bullied, it doesn't mean you can't become the bully just because you've come from a tough situation. You can just as easily become the bad guy as you can become the good guy. And we still have to be responsible for our actions matter where we come from.
Peyton List: Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think there's, I mean, it's super relevant right now. We see with social media, you know, the, the huge divide there is politically, economically, socially. I just think that there's a lot of divides right now in the country. And I think Cobra Kai is oddly kind of commenting on a lot of that. I mean, I think that it represents two very different sides and I think it, I think it does. I think it's very relevant and it's a big issue and it's kinda nice that we can have those conversations through our characters and through the show and, and comment on something that's much bigger, I think. But it is good to kind of see where everyone is coming from. I think Cobra Kai does a good job of showing everyone has a story, no matter how, you know, how bad you've had it or how privileged you are, everyone is going through something. And I think it's good for all of us to kind of be able to communicate on this show, hopefully it brings more of us together to have those conversations, which I think we need to do more of. So, yeah. Thank you.
So with two seasons of this is for either of you with two seasons of fire training behind me now, were you able to do a lot more physically in season?
Peyton List: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were able to do a lot more physically and I think Mary and I had a lot of fun with that. We got to also just work with different I'm like how much can we say? Even I feel like just with the props and everything else that we got to use this season and we were training hours and hours much more and also seeing progress from when I first came on. I knew no, not about Roddy and to where I am now and the trainers and the stunt coordinators and how much they work with us. It's just, it's really cool to see it pay off now. But yeah,
Mary Mouser: I mean, definitely same I'm I came into especially season one. Didn't get any training on season one, really other than like specific stunts twice. So going into season two was kind of the beginning of my training, but to see where I, at the end of season one, my season one episode nine, I'm supposed to do the the one kind of like spin kick at the end and just doing my piece of that, not the stunt doubles piece. My piece of that took two hours to teach me one kick the poor stunt coordinators who spent their time being like, no, you over the hips. So you that hip up and then you with the leg and just literally like picking up my leg, drilling it to now two years later, I'm able to be like, Oh, okay, you want me to like jump up in the air and like deliver a kick? Why? Like, to somebody said, no problem. Like just put a pad down, let me do that. Definitely not, no problem. I mean, like I'm still working on it, you know, but like definitely in a completely different world than I was, which is really cool and rewarding to see.