It’s not every day that you get a call from Ralph Macchio.

“This New York number popped up on my phone and I was like, ‘Who could be calling me from New York?’” says Pine Bluff, Arkansas-native  Mary Mouser, recalling the day she booked the role of Samantha LaRusso in Cobra Kai.

“Hey, I just called and I want to introduce you to the LaRusso family,” said the voice on the other end of the line.

Macchio had dialed from his personal cell to congratulate his new TV daughter on her gig. “I tried to keep it together on the phone. I was shaking the entire time, but as soon as he got off that phone call, I was about to cry,” she adds. The actor, now 26, wasn’t just stepping into any show — she was joining The Karate Kid franchise, a cultural touchstone that kicked off in 1984 when Macchio starred as the meek but mighty Daniel LaRusso.

The Karate Kid tells the story of Mr. Miyagi, played by the late Pat Morita, a handyman and sensei who teaches a bullied teen the Okinawan art of Miyagi-Do karate. Mr. Miyagi’s philosophy is simple: The best way to defend oneself and protect others is through balanced and peaceful martial arts.

Much like the bonsai trees that his character loved to cultivate, The Karate Kid branched off into Cobra Kai which honors Mr. Miyagi’s legacy. The series follows not only a grown-up Daniel but also his former foes, like Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Also featured is a new generation of warriors, including Daniel and Johnny’s teenage children Sam and Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), as well as underdogs like Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) and other high school friends.

Now entering its fifth season, Cobra Kai showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald are finding new ways to expand on the long-running saga. The young ensemble we met in Seasons 1 and 2 — Mouser, Maridueña, Buchanan, Peyton List, Jacob Bertrand and Gianni DeCenzo — have now grown into karate masters themselves. Just like Macchio did when Mouser was first cast, she and her peers are now passing the torch to a new class of teens: Griffin Santopietro, Oona O’Brien and Dallas Dupree Young.

Xolo Maridueña and Mary Mouser

“My first day on the set of Cobra Kai was my first day on any set, actually — and I spent that entire day kicking all the guys in the balls,” O’Brien shares. The 16-year-old actor joined the ensemble in Season 4 as Devon Lee, a quick-tempered but dedicated student of the Eagle Fang dojo, led by Johnny.

“It's been really great to have this younger generation give kids watching the show some people to relate to,” says Santopietro, who’s played Daniel’s son, Anthony, since Season 1. O’Brien concurs, adding, “And I think for Devon especially, having that Asian representation on this show is super important. Devon is a fierce competitor and she really challenges that [stereotypical] notion of Asian girls being weak and submissive.”

Young, who plays Kenny, already looked up to some of his co-stars before joining the show. “The first person I met was Tanner Buchanan. Having the opportunity to work with him was surreal for me because I actually watched him growing up and I saw his career evolve,” he says. “He understands what it's like to be a teenage actor in the industry. He was a friend to lean on whenever I had struggles or just times I wanted to talk about the script.”

With a cast that spans three different generations, keeping up the camaraderie is crucial — and that chemistry comes naturally. On a recent afternoon, the three teens are at a Tudum photo shoot, showered in red, orange and white powder as they strike karate poses. Maridueña enters the dark soundstage and O’Brien turns to shout his name.

“Want a hug?” Santopietro jokingly asks him, trying to cover Maridueña in the colored powder, who watches proudly as his younger co-stars finish up their final group shots. When it’s Maridueña’s turn to take his solo pictures, the three actors huddle together behind the light stands.

“Alright guys, let’s cheer him on,” O’Brien suggests. She’s been the team cheerleader all afternoon, from encouraging Santopietro to try new poses to leading a small group game of Zip Zap Zop during downtime. She also wows everyone with her perfect jumps and kicks, leading Young to say, in awe: “I want to be Oona when I grow up.” The room fills up with echoes as more cast members trickle in — and if this energy is just a taste of what a day on the Cobra Kai set feels like, it’s easy to see how they can laugh through all the bruises.

Peyton List

“They're stealing my screen time, man,” Maridueña jokes. “God, it took me so long to navigate the karate aspect of [Cobra Kai] because it just didn't come naturally. But those three, Griffin, Dallas and Oona, oh my gosh. They’re younger than I was when I started on the show and they’re infinitely better.”

“It's amazing to watch them. Not that I understand how Billy and Ralph feel at all, but there is a sense of wonderment that I have watching Dallas and Oona because they are so mature for their age,” adds List.

Bertrand agrees. “I've never really worked with actors that were younger than me. I was always the youngest one on the call sheet. It’s a weird dynamic change to then be someone that’s older. Now you can teach or show people stuff.” Case in point: Off to the side, Bertrand is giving O’Brien pointers on her high kick.

Although the new class of teens are tackling larger storylines, that doesn’t mean the original series cast is absent from the action. Over the years, we’ve followed the friction between Miguel and Robby, as well as Sam and Tory’s rivalry. If there’s one thing that The Karate Kid franchise is going to do, it’s draw out an enemies-to-friends arc, and that’s certainly something to watch out for in Season 5.

Maridueña describes the first few seasons of the show as “separated,” with the different dojos making minimal connections with each other. “I think this is a really great bookend and a really great way to move into this next phase,” he says. Mouser is also relieved because she no longer has to shout her lines at List with such disdain. “It's been tough to hate [Peyton],” she says, chuckling. She mentions that the pair actually hang outside of filming together, going to karaoke nights, as well as Macchio’s birthday parties.

Some characters might be calling a truce this season, but the action is bigger, better and bloodier. “It’s a different tone when it comes to the fights, at least for the adults. My Lord, they're bloody, they're brutal,” says Bertrand. 🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐 “There’s a scene where Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) tells me to keep hitting a marble brick. That was definitely the hardest scene for me to do. I remember crying in the middle of it when they called cut because I just wanted to do justice to the scene,” List recalls.

Oona O’Brien and Dallas Dupree Young

All the blood, sweat and tears lead up to Season 5’s climactic finale fight, which includes almost every character getting in on the action. For Santopietro, it was a thrill to film. “That was my one kick from the entire show in that one moment. I had everybody help me out with it so that was really fun. It felt like a long time coming to finally be a part of this action,” he says.

“We learned a decent bit of that fight on [filming] day. That was super crunch time,” Bertrand says. DeCenzo recalls that he “might have blocked out that memory because it took so long” to film, while Maridueña credits the showrunners for constantly raising the bar.

Bringing up a new class of teens, putting old feuds to rest and leveling up the stakes can be a lot to pack into a single season, but, as the show’s motto makes clear: Cobra Kai never dies. “There's only so much fan service that you can give to help bring the audience in. Our creators and writers have done a great job of not only adding that nostalgia realistically and naturally but also being able to add on so much more,” says Maridueña.

Snakes shed their skin as they grow, and it’s clear that Season 5 marks the birth of a whole new animal, with a long and honorable tradition behind it.