'Cobra Kai' Season 6 - Peyton List Explains Why Tory Chose THAT Sensei (2024)

The wait is over! Well, kind of. We don’t have all of Cobra Kai Season 6 yet, but we do have Part 1 of the show’s final season, and it leaves us with a lot to chew on while we wait for Part 2 to drop in November. If you’re not ready for spoiler-filled Cobra Kai Season 6 - Part 1 conversations just yet, fear not! We have you covered in that department as well. We've got a non-spoiler interview with Ralph Macchio, William Zabka and Yuji Okumoto, and one with the show creators, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald. This one, however, is a full spoiler chat with show stars Peyton List, Tanner Buchanan, Xolo Maridueña, Jacob Bertrand, Mary Mouser and Gianni DeCenzo.

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through Cobra Kai, Season 6 Episode 5.]During Part 1, it’s revealed that each dojo can only send six fighters to the Sekai Taikai. Not only does that create competition among the Miyagi-do students, but so does the fact that they must name two captains. Complicating things further, while karate is a top priority for most, they’ve got other things going on in their lives. Things like getting into college and significant family matters, the most devastating of which is the passing of Tory’s mother.

Why does Tory feel the need to turn to Kreese (Martin Kove) after that happens? Is winning the Sekai Taikai really only about closure for Sam or is there more to it than that? Can the Binary Brothers recover from their fight over MIT? Is Robby going to be able to handle being captain in Barcelona, or would Miguel have been the better option? We’re discussing all of that with List, Buchanan, Maridueña, Bertrand, Mouser and DeCenzo in this interview! You can watch it in the video above, or you can read the conversation in transcript form below.

PERRI NEMIROFF: Peyton, I have to come to you to talk Episode 5 first. What do you think Tory thinks she can get from Kreese that she can't get from the people around her who clearly love her so much?

PEYTON LIST: That’s a really good question. I think what she can get from him is being his number one, and she can't be anyone else's number one.

TANNER BUCHANAN: Just throwing Robby under the bus on that one.

LIST: [Laughs] An authority figure!

MARY MOUSER: Oh, she said she wears the pants! [Laughs]

My heart breaks for her. So well done.

Is Winning the Sekai Taikai Really Only About Closure for Sam?

Mary, there's a lot of talk this season about what winning the Sekai Taikai will mean for certain people. For Miguel, it's getting into Stanford, for Johnny, it’s supporting his family. We don't hear all that much about that from your perspective, so what do you think Sam thinks will be the game-changer for her if she wins the tournament, especially as its captain?

MOUSER: For Sam, of the traditional Miyagi-do mindset, it's not so much about winning a title or winning a tournament and having a big old banner to hold up. I think for her, it's what that would mean internally. She's on the journey of finding that herself, too, but I went into it with the intention that it's about closure. She's had a lot of doors and paths that were opened, gratefully. She's had a lot of new opportunities because of karate, but a lot of them were just things left incomplete and undone, and I think she needs to, for herself, know what she's capable of to be able to go on to the next chapter in her life and feel like she really fulfilled this phase of her karate journey.

What a thoughtful way to think about that. For any award out there, someone's better off thinking about those layers rather than just holding up the trophy or the banner.

Jacob and Gianni, I have questions about the particular scene where Demetri takes the flag. Gianni, I'll come your way first. Admittedly, I might be overthinking what goes into performing beats like this, but you have so many good reaction shots where I can see the wheels in your head turning as you're making decisions like, let's say, not taking his hand or seeing the flag on the floor and choosing to run away. What is it like doing those moments so that we can feel what's going through his mind?

GIANNI DECENZO: This is like the turning point for my character this season, and so I really spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it feels like to essentially turn your back on your friend. I had to take a page from Hawk’s book there. It's what sets off their little mini squabble, so it was really important. And I got a good scene partner, so I think we did a good job with that. He’s very talented.

Let's make him blush. What do you appreciate about Jacob as a scene partner that helped you reach something in your own performance in those moments that you wouldn't have been able to without him?

DECENZO: [To Jacob] You complete me.

That's it?!

DECENZO: You don't wanna give him too much!

Fair enough. We gotta keep the rivalry going.

Jacob, Eli is always so quick to get up and fight back. When Demetri takes the flag and runs, why does he feel so defeated in that moment when in other instances, he doesn't?

JACOB BERTRAND: I think in that moment I sort of viewed that fight as a fight I've had with my little brother where it's not just us fighting about this one big thing. I kind of messed up in not communicating about all of our future plans, and I think in that moment I'm like, “I'm in the wrong.” Both of us are good fighters. We both could be going to this tournament and have merits to go, but I'm just in the wrong at this point, and I'm just sitting with my decisions, like, “Yeah, I messed up.”

I want you all to live happily ever after, but I know that would make bad TV.

Who's the Better Leader - Robby or Miguel?

Tanner, for you, what are Robby’s priorities going into the Sekai Taikai, not just as a competitor but also as a leader for the Miyagi-do team?

BERTRAND: “Get my girl back!” [Laughs]

BUCHANAN: Well, that is the whole thing. I think he's torn up because he doesn't know which way is the right way at this point. I think he knew in his mind what he thought what the right way was, and he had this pact with Tory of, “We're gonna make this happen.” Going into it, he doesn't have that pact anymore, and it's kind of thrown him off his groove. When he gets thrown off his groove, because he's so emotional, he doesn't really know how to get back on it. We'll have to see where that kind of ends him up, but it doesn't look great for him right now.

This question's gonna get spicy. Xolo, what do you think Miguel would do better if he went to Barcelona as the team captain?

XOLO MARIDUEÑA: Oh, man. That's a good question. I feel like Miguel probably has a lot of those shower conversations like, “I should have said that!” After these first five episodes or after the fight, he's probably like, “f*ck,” in the shower, “I should have blocked the move!” But for Miguel, I think he feels, in this moment, that he's just a better fighter. I don't know if he is in that moment, right? Clearly, he lost the fight. But I think he has a sense of urgency because of the whole college fiasco that I think, had he been leader, there would have been a very clear like, things are on a good page with his relationship with both his mentor, his family, his love life. So, I think there would have been a real choo-choo, the train is going, but …

BERTRAND: “Choo-choo.”

MARIDUEÑA: Choo-choo, the train has stopped because I got bested. So, that really hurt. Even when we were filming that scene, I was like, “Damn, he lost.” I was like, “You fool.” But we'll see now because the good thing about being a team is that although you have a leader, it takes a whole team to win.

Looking for even more Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 spoiler talk? You can catch my spoiler-filled chat with creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg below:

VIDEO

Cobra Kai

TV-14

Comedy

Action

webseries

Thirty-four years after events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, a down-and-out Johnny Lawrence seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai dojo, reigniting his rivalry with a now successful Daniel LaRusso.

Release Date

May 2, 2018

Creator

Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg

Cast

William Zabka , Ralph Macchio , Courtney Henggeler , Mary Matilyn Mouser , Marty Cove , Peyton List , Jacob Bertrand , Vanessa Rubio

Seasons

6

Streaming Service(s)

Netflix

Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 1 is now available to stream on Netflix.

Watch Here