List of The Karate Kid characters

Ali's father Mr. Mills (William Bassett), and her mother, Mrs. Mills (Sharon Spelman) appear to silently judge Daniel when Ali introduces them in front of her house. Mrs. Mills prefers Johnny, whom she dances with at the country club, before trading partners with Ali, who is dancing with her father. At that moment, Ali and Mr. Mills are having a difficult conversation, where he conveys his disappointment that Ali would rather go out with "that boy from Reseda" again instead of Johnny. Over thirty years later (Season 3, Episode 9 of Cobra Kai), Ali returns home to spend Christmas with her parents. After Mrs. Mills (Deborah May) returns home from Christmas shopping for Ali's children, she asks Ali to come to the holiday party the next evening. Ali later tells Johnny that her parents disapprove of her upcoming divorce.

Judy was Daniel's girlfriend when he lived in New Jersey. She appears very briefly during the first few minutes of Karate Kid with a group of people surrounding Lucille's car. When Daniel gets into the car he says: "Bye, Judy." Later after Daniel meets Ali, Lucille asks him (when they meet in a restaurant), "Is she prettier than Judy?" Daniel responds, "Oh, ma, she buries Judy!" In Season 2, Episode 1 of Cobra Kai, Daniel tells Samantha about Judy, stating, "Did I ever tell you about my first girlfriend? I was about your age and she was in another league. Beautiful eyes, amazing smile. I thought it would last forever." When Samantha asks what happened, Daniel states, "Grandma moved us out of New Jersey. Came to California. I met a new girl, Ali. This time I was sure she was the one. I mean Judy was great, but this was true love."

Lucille LaRusso (Randee Heller) is Daniel's mother. She is a single mom who relocates Daniel from New Jersey to Southern California due to her computer job transfer. It seems to have worked out well for her, as she later tells Daniel she was promoted and will be required to go to a manager's training program two nights a week. Although Lucille is a down-to-earth and independent woman, she is greatly concerned about Daniel's harassment from Johnny and his gang, an issue which is shared by Mr. Miyagi. She gets along well with Ali, and in contrast to the formality of Ali's parents, refers to herself as "Lucille" rather than "Mrs. LaRusso." She is a strong influence in Daniel's life and supports Mr. Miyagi's interest in him.

In the sequel series Cobra Kai, she is shown to initially have a troubled relationship with Daniel's wife Amanda, which they resolve through the intervention of Daniel and Amanda's daughter, Samantha. Lucille has fond memories of Mr. Miyagi and his support of her family. She also shares memories of her late husband, Daniel's father, with Daniel when he is having marital difficulties with Amanda.

Tommy (Rob Garrison) is another friend of Johnny and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. He is known for being the most vocal and sarcastic of the Cobra Kai gang. He is the third Cobra Kai member to be defeated by Daniel in the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament and afterward, he is heard cheering Johnny on from the sidelines during the final match with Daniel. His most memorable line in the movie is "Get him a body bag. Yeah!" after Johnny re-aggravates Daniel's leg injury. He also had another memorable quote when Ali is seen walking with Daniel at school; he yells out in anger towards them "It must be 'take a worm for a walk week.'" Though Tommy delights in the endless hazing of Daniel by the Cobra Kai, he is clearly shocked when Bobby injures Daniel's leg on Kreese's command. In the parking lot confrontation following the tournament where Kreese scolds Johnny for losing, Tommy pleads with Kreese to release Johnny from the chokehold that he has him in, agreeing with Mr. Miyagi's demands to let him go. Kreese refuses and even strikes Tommy in the face, knocking him to the ground.

In Season 1 of Cobra Kai, Johnny blames Mr. Miyagi for giving Tommy brain damage while protecting Daniel from the Cobra Kai gang back in 1984. In Season 2, Tommy is terminally ill from cancer. Wanting to go out on his own terms, he breaks out of the hospital to go motorcycle riding with Johnny, Bobby, and Jimmy. After a bar fight won by the gang, a night of drinking around a campfire, and revealing to Johnny that he was in love with Ali their first year, Tommy dies the next morning. The last scene of episode 6 shows Tommy being zipped in a body bag (a nod to the end of The Karate Kid when Tommy shouts "Get him a body bag," implying that he believed Daniel would lose against Johnny).

Bobby Brown (Ron Thomas (actor)) is a friend of Johnny and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. Bobby is Kreese's second-best student and was runner-up to Johnny in the All-Valley Tournament the previous year, though Johnny's most prominent right-hand man appeared to be Dutch. Although one of Johnny's gang (he slide tackles Daniel at the first day of school soccer tryouts, prompting Daniel to tackle him and land a punch to his face, thus getting Daniel kicked out of the tryouts), Bobby is seen as a more compassionate character than his friends. He tries to stop Johnny from ruining the beach party, stop him from harassing Daniel, and from doing further damage to Daniel during the fight alongside the South Sea apartments during the Halloween party. During the Semi-finals of the tournament, Kreese orders Bobby to put Daniel "out of commission," which Bobby reluctantly attempts to do by landing a kick to Daniel's knee, severely injuring him. After the kick, Bobby drops down and sincerely and profusely apologizes to a pain-ridden Daniel before being pulled off Daniel and disqualified. Because Daniel was unable to continue at that time and Bobby being disqualified, he is the only Cobra Kai member that Daniel doesn't defeat. In the film's novelization, Bobby – remorseful for injuring Daniel and disgusted at not being able to fight him fairly – walks over to Kreese and throws his black belt onto the floor. He then quits the Cobra Kai and leaves the arena. In the parking lot confrontation following the tournament, Bobby defends Johnny from an angry Kreese, stating that Johnny has apologized for his performance. When Kreese attacks Johnny, Bobby attempts to intervene but is assaulted by Kreese.

In season 2 of Cobra Kai, Bobby is now a pastor at a church. He visits his terminally ill friend, Tommy, with Johnny and Jimmy by his side. In season 3 a drunk Johnny crashes his sermon, forcing Bobby to sweep him off his feet. He later agrees to accompany Johnny to see Robby in juvenile detention, but Johnny stands both of them up.

Jimmy (Tony O'Dell) is another friend of Johnny and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. Jimmy is known for being the quietest member (having only a couple of lines in the film) and the only brown belt in Johnny's quintet group. He is the second Cobra Kai member to be defeated by Daniel in the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament. Jimmy expresses shock when Bobby is ordered by Kreese to injure Daniel and is present when Kreese attacks Johnny following his loss and second-place showing. Although he does not physically nor verbally intervene, he shows disgust at Kreese.

In Season 2 of Cobra Kai, Jimmy has his wife and two sons. He also expresses to Johnny his distrust of Kreese.

Dutch (Chad McQueen) is Johnny's main friend and a fellow student at the Cobra Kai dojo. Dutch is also the most brutal of the gang. Dutch enjoys picking on Daniel. He can be seen hopping up and down whenever the Cobras confront Daniel as they are about to beat him, even confronting him in the locker room before the start of the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament and telling Daniel he is "dead meat." He is the fourth Cobra Kai member to be defeated by Daniel during the tournament before facing Bobby in the semi-final round. It is rumored that a deleted scene exists of Dutch becoming angered by Daniel scoring a point on him, resulting in him tackling Daniel to the mat in a scuffle and being pulled away by tournament officials, leading to his disqualification. This would explain why it appeared that Daniel won their match after only scoring a single point. In contrast to his friends, Dutch cracks a smile after Kreese orders Bobby to put Daniel "out of commission." Dutch also appears with the other Cobra Kais when Kreese assaults Johnny for coming in second place. Despite pleas from the others for Kreese to stop, Dutch is notably silent, his face is partly hidden under a baseball cap and he turns away once Kreese places Johnny in the chokehold.

Dutch has not appeared in Cobra Kai yet, but aspects of his life are revealed by other characters in season two. While reminiscing about high school, Johnny, Tommy, and Jimmy talk about how in 1984, the Cobra Kai gang went out one weekend and were so drunk that Dutch broke a dartboard at a bar, sending him to juvenile hall. They also referred to the fact that Dutch is currently serving a 5 to 10-year prison sentence at Lompoc Federal Penitentiary.

Darryl Vidal (Darryl Vidal) is a highly skilled karate opponent and, presumably, third-place winner of the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament. After defeating several Cobra Kai members, he is defeated by Johnny with three unanswered points in the semi-finals. Darryl is seen at the end of the film congratulating Daniel on winning the tournament.

Vidal was mentioned by name in Cobra Kai Season 3 by John Kreese. Kreese mentions to Johnny's son Robby that Vidal had beaten Johnny in the years prior to the film, noting Johnny's potential as a fighter.

Freddy Fernandez (Israel Juarbe) A high school student that lives in the same apartment building that Daniel and his mother move into. He befriends Daniel and invites him to a beach party. During the party, when Daniel notices Ali, Freddy encourages Daniel to talk to her, but doesn't defend him when Johnny crashes the party and beats him up. The following day, he and his friends shun Daniel at their school's soccer tryouts. He is next seen in the crowd at the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament cheering for Daniel. At the end of the film, he is seen cheering for Daniel and along with some of his friends, lifting Daniel up after his win, possibly reestablishing their friendship.

Susan (Juli Fields) One of Ali's best friends. She dislikes Daniel, referring to him as "fungus" during the Halloween dance. She is later seen at the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament in the crowd cheering. At the end of the film, she is seen walking onto the ring, along with Freddy and several others cheering for Daniel.

Barbara (Dana Andersen) Another one of Ali's friends. Like Susan, she does not care much for Daniel at the beginning but is seen cheering for him in the end.

The Referee of the ring is played by Pat E. Johnson in the first three Karate Kid films. He was seen outside his tournament duties in each of the three films.

Jerry Robertson (Larry B. Scott) Another student at the Cobra Kai dojo; however, he is not a part of Johnny's gang. He is the brown belt student who is defeated by Bobby in a sparring match at the dojo. He was also the first Cobra Kai member defeated by Daniel in the 1984 All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament.

Sato (Danny Kamekona) is Chozen's uncle and Miyagi's former best friend with whom he had a strong brotherly friendship, to the point Miyagi asked his father to teach Sato karate, which, traditionally, was only taught from father to son. Sato was arranged to marry a girl named Yukie, but she had already fallen in love with Miyagi and he with her. Their love was so strong that Miyagi had announced that he would break the tradition of arranged marriage and marry Yukie anyway. Sato felt disgraced and betrayed by Miyagi and challenged him to a fight to save his honor; Miyagi instead left Okinawa the next day, angering Sato further. By the time Miyagi returned to Tomi village with Daniel, Sato – now a rich industrialist – owned the whole town. Still bearing a bitter vendetta against Miyagi, he was eager to face his old friend in a death-match. This never occurred as Miyagi saved his life during a typhoon with a mighty chop shattering a pinning wooden beam, deeply impressing Sato with his supposed rival's true might and restoring their friendship. Soon after, Sato disowns Chozen for refusing to help Daniel rescue a young girl from the typhoon, prompting Sato to go out to assist Daniel himself. Realizing how his hatred had consumed him, he made amends by returning ownership of Tomi village back to the villagers and helping them rebuild.

Sato is a highly skilled and respected karate master who appears to be more rigid and firm in his technique than Miyagi. His dojo in Naha City is used to instruct American military police in karate.

In Cobra Kai (Season 3) Sato was mentioned to have modified Tomi Village to become a tourist attraction some time after Daniel and Mr. Miyagi's departure from Okinawa. His business decision boosted the local economy. He was also credited by Chozen to have turned the latter's life around after his fight with Daniel. Chozen mentions that Sato passed away and left Chozen all of the Miyagi property. Now a better man, Chozen displays a great deal of respect for both his uncle and Mr. Miyagi.

Yukie (Nobu McCarthy) Yukie is Mr. Miyagi's loving childhood girlfriend and Kumiko's aunt. Although she was to marry Sato in an arranged marriage, she had fallen in love with Mr. Miyagi, which is what made Sato challenge Mr. Miyagi to a death match to save his honor. Mr. Miyagi never fought him, however. The day after Sato's challenge, he left for America. When Mr. Miyagi returned to Tomi village, it was revealed that Yukie had never married Sato. During the events of The Karate Kid Part II, it was shown that the two still had feelings for one another and they began to rekindle their romance.

In Cobra Kai Season 3, Kumiko told Daniel that Yukie had passed away, and that she had inherited Yukie's home. Kumiko also gave Daniel a box of love letters from Mr. Miyagi to Yukie that were written after Daniel and Mr. Miyagi left Okinawa.

Yuna (Traci Toguchi) is a young girl who lives at Tomi Village. She rings the bell as a typhoon roars into the village to warn everyone to take shelter. She is caught in the storm and is dangerously close to the power lines but Daniel comes and saves her. She is also present at the Castle during the O-Bon festival as she thanked Daniel for saving her life and witnesses the fight between Daniel and Chozen.

In Season 3 of Cobra Kai, Daniel returns to Okinawa after travelling to Japan in an attempt to save his business by renegotiating his soon-to-be cancelled contract with Doyona, a marketing conglomerate that handles international sales for Asian automobiles. Kumiko introduces Daniel to a young woman whom she calls a mutual friend of theirs. After the woman tells Daniel that they had previously met when she was a young girl during a typhoon, Daniel realizes that its Yuna (whose name is finally revealed in the series) and is happy to see her again. Yuna reveals to Daniel that she is now the Senior Vice President of Sales for Doyona International, the company that he is reaching out to and that she intends to help Daniel save his business.

Toshio (Joey Miyashima) One of Chozen's cronies who helps torment Daniel.

Taro (Marc Hayashi) Another one of Chozen's cronies who helps torment Daniel.

Miyagi's Father (Charlie Tanimoto) An elderly karate master who trained him to use the art in the right way. At the beginning of the movie the audience finds out that he is still alive, however, has become ill and later dies, but not before seeing his son one last time. As sensei to Miyagi and Sato, both men came to his side at his hour of death. His final act was to bring the two former close friends together, seemingly encouraging them to make peace, which they eventually do.

Ichiro (Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad) is an old villager in Tomi Village, Okinawa. When Miyagi takes Daniel on a tour of the village, he is one of the first people that Daniel meets. He has a fondness for entertaining the village children with his shamisen. After Daniel tries and fails to practice the Drum Technique, he sees Ichiro accidentally lose control of his wheelbarrow full of carrots. Daniel helps him carry them while they formally introduce themselves to each other. When they make it to Chozen's market to exchange the carrots for money, Ichiro is witness to Daniel's first confrontation with Chozen. During an accident when Daniel helps put the carrots on the scales, the weights fall off. Daniel and Ichiro find out that one of the weights is fake, causing the people of the village to revolt and shame Chozen. Ichiro is later seen among the villagers heading for the pillbox to shelter from the Typhoon and is seen at the viewing window with Daniel, Miyagi and Yukie looking for others caught in the storm. With the rest of the villagers, he is seen helping rebuild the damaged village, as well as dancing, with Miyagi, Yukie, Daniel, Kumiko and Sato during the O Bon dance. Ichiro is last seen among the audience while they watch Kumiko perform and Daniel's eventual fight with Chozen.

The Announcer (Bruce Malmuth) for the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament has appeared in the first three Karate Kid films. He seems to have a deep respect for Daniel.

Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively) is a girl who works in a pottery shop. Mr. Miyagi buys pots for his bonsai trees from her; in doing so she gets to know Daniel. Daniel tries asking her out, but she explains that she moved to LA after breaking up with her boyfriend and was going back to her home in Columbus, Ohio soon to try and reconcile with him; they agree to stay friends and form a close bond. On the last night Jessica is in town, they go dancing at a club. A guy rudely hits on Jessica, prompting Daniel into a fight; Daniel ends up breaking the guy's nose. (It turns out that the guy was paid by Silver specifically to provoke Daniel.) Jessica is visibly upset and storms off. As she is packing to leave the next day, Daniel shows up and apologizes. She accepts, implying that the two will remain friends.

Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) is a very wealthy Vietnam War Veteran who first met John Kreese when they served together in Vietnam, Indebted to Kreese for saving his life numerous times, Silver established the Cobra Kai dojo and gave it to Kreese as a gift of gratitude and friendship. Silver is also the head of a toxic waste disposal company called Dynatox Industries, which illegally dumps waste in the environment and has made Silver very wealthy due to these activities. Besides being a successful businessman, he is also a ruthless karate expert. In the third film, Silver offers to help Kreese, who is now broke because of the loss of his students, gain revenge on Daniel and Mr. Miyagi and reestablish Cobra Kai. Silver sends Kreese to Tahiti to rest while he hires "Karate's Bad Boy" Mike Barnes to defeat Daniel at the next All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament. Silver breaks in to Mr. Miyagi's house and finds out about his Military past by going through some newspaper clippings and after seeing Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor. He's nearly discovered but he hides inside the fireplace. He introduces himself to Daniel and Mr. Miyagi on a later day, telling them that he was sent to help John Kreese regain balance. He lies to them saying that Kreese died of a cardiac arrest, but he believes that his death was really out a broken heart and sadness at losing all of his karate students, he also blames Kreese's erratic behavior as a result of his years fighting in the Vietnam War. Silver apologizes to both Daniel and Mr. Miyagi on behalf of Kreese. When Silver finds out that Daniel will not fight at the tournament this year, he orders Barnes and his henchmen to harass Daniel in an attempt to make him enter the tournament. After Daniel signs up for the tournament, he turns to Silver for guidance after Miyagi refuses to train him. Silver, as part of his plan, forces Daniel to destroy a wooden dummy. After Daniel finally destroys the dummy and injures himself at the same time, Silver tells him that he is ready for the tournament. When Daniel and his friend, Jessica, are at a nightclub, Silver bribes a man into provoking a fight with Daniel. Daniel punches the man and breaks his nose. Realizing that he has become a different man and has alienated himself from his friends, Daniel informs Silver that he will not fight at the tournament. Silver reveals his true agenda and Barnes assaults Daniel. Mr. Miyagi then appears at the dojo to rescue Daniel. Silver challenges Miyagi and is thrown into the dojo's wall mirror with paint falling on him. Unafraid by his defeat, Silver continues to taunt Miyagi and LaRusso, claiming that John Kreese's form of Karate will one day rule the valley. Miyagi then agrees to train Daniel before leaving Silver.

At the tournament, the committee organizers allow Silver to give a speech before the final match. Silver tells the audience that he will open a chain of Cobra Kai dojos where young people can learn "honesty, compassion, and fair play." When the fight begins Silver and Kreese instruct Barnes to inflict pain on Daniel, by winning a point and subsequently losing a point to keep the score tied, leading to a sudden death round. The plan appears to work until LaRusso unleashes his kata on Barnes during the sudden death round, defeating Barnes. After the final point is scored, Silver walks away in disgust as Cobra Kai shirts are discarded around him.

In 2018, Terry Silver is referenced in the Cobra Kai episode "All Valley," where Johnny Lawrence is informed that due to the actions of Terry Silver, John Kreese, and Mike Barnes, the tournament committee has enforced a lifetime ban on Cobra Kai dojo from entering the competition. As he never met Silver or Barnes before, Johnny succeeds at getting the ban lifted when he states that he doesn't know who they are.

Silver is seen in archive footage during Cobra Kai Season 2, when Daniel tells his students a brief synopsis of the events in The Karate Kid, Part III.

In Cobra Kai Season 3, Silver appears in the Vietnam War flashbacks, portrayed by Nick Marini. He was given the nickname "Twig" by Ponytail, because of his skinny arms. Silver is seen serving in John Kreese's Special Forces unit under the command of Captain Turner. In the episode December 19, it is revealed that while in captivity, the Vietnamese chose Silver to participate in a forced hand-to-hand fight to the death with Captain Turner, only for Kreese to volunteer himself instead. After being saved by an airstrike by the U.S. Air Force, Silver offers his undying loyalty to Kreese as his personal thanks. In the present day, Kreese gives Silver a phone call at the season's conclusion.

Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) is a rising martial arts star who has won numerous tournaments. He is a skilled and vicious karate fighter who got the nickname of "Karate's Bad Boy". Unlike Johnny and Chozen, Barnes seems tougher and more skilled and experienced in karate because Daniel could not overpower him until the end of the film. In the third movie, Barnes was hired by Terry Silver to beat Daniel at the next All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament and will get 25% (later 50%) ownership of the new Cobra Kai dojos if he achieves the goal. Later in the film, Barnes and his friends, Snake and Dennis, begin to bother and harass Daniel in an attempt to make him sign up for the tournament. They later succeed by threatening to leave Daniel and his friend, Jessica, to drown at the bottom of a cliff. Barnes also breaks Mr. Miyagi's valuable bonsai tree. When Daniel decides not to compete at the tournament, Silver reveals that he was the one who is behind Barnes and that his agenda was avenging John Kreese, who was his best friend all along. Barnes viciously assaults Daniel until Miyagi arrives and defeats the three men. Daniel and Miyagi decide to show up for the tournament. At the tournament, Barnes reaches the final round to face Daniel. Silver and Kreese instruct Barnes to inflict pain on Daniel and then beat him in the sudden death round. Barnes wins and loses points on Daniel (nearly getting disqualified in the process), but gets defeated in sudden death. This causes him to rage and cause Silver and Kreese to storm off, humiliated. Because of his horrible behavior, Barnes got permanently banned from entering other karate tournaments for good.

Barnes is seen in archive footage during Cobra Kai Season 3, when Daniel tells Sam about his match with Barnes when addressing Sam's personal fear of Tory.

Snake (Jonathan Avildsen) is one of Terry's henchmen and Mike's cronies, who helps torment Daniel. He is known to be the "bad boy" of L.A (implied by Silver). It is unknown if Snake has any martial arts skills, though he seems to have some skills when he tried to land a punch on Mr. Miyagi, which Miyagi later countered during a second confrontation on Miyagi's bonsai shop. Snake was last seen at the tournament. He was disappointed and humiliated when Mike lost to Daniel.

Dennis (William Christopher Ford) is one of Silver's henchmen and Mike's cronies who help torment Daniel. He is a karate practitioner who is assigned to help Mike with his training. But Dennis is not as skilled as Mike nor Daniel, due to the fact that Daniel easily defeated him during a second confrontation on Miyagi's bonsai shop and a sparring match against Mike on the Cobra Kai dojo, in which he lost. Dennis rarely speaks. He only has two lines throughout the entire movie.

Mrs. Milo (Frances Bay) is the negative old lady that lives in the same apartment building as Daniel. She was seen in the first movie remarking how this place was a dump and how she was a New Jersey native like Daniel, specifically Parsippany. Daniel exclaims that is also home to his Uncle Louie, but the only man named Louis she knew from there does not have the surname of Larusso. She is also seen in the third film, greeting Daniel upon his return from Japan with bad news. She lost her residence alongside the Larussos as their apartment complex changed ownership.

Uncle Louie (Joseph V. Perry) is Daniel's uncle and Lucille's brother-in-law. During the events of The Karate Kid part 3, he becomes ill and Lucille returns to New Jersey to care for him. Louie has his namesake son, Louie LaRusso Jr., appearing in Cobra Kai. He is Italian-American.

Milos (Jan Triska) is Terry Silver's butler.

Margaret (Diana Webster) Terry Silver's secretary. She sees Mike Barnes when he first is introduced to Terry Silver. After Barnes departs, Margaret tells her boss that Mike Barnes is a unbearable young man.

The Announcer (Rick Hurst) is the announcer of the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament in The Karate Kid Part III.

Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank) is a troubled teenage girl who lost her parents in a car accident. Mr. Miyagi is an old friend of her grandmother, and agrees to spend time mentoring Julie (who has become violent and unmanageable). At first, Julie wants nothing to do with him. Over time however, she learns to accept him as a teacher.

Like Daniel, Julie is bullied by a gang in her high school. In this case, however, she becomes the target of Ned and The Alpha Elite after she rejects Ned's sexual advances. With the skills and self-confidence that Mr. Miyagi instills in Julie, she is able to stand up to Ned when a fight at the docks takes place (while the rest of Ned's gang and Col. Dugan watch on) and comes out victorious. When Ned loses, Col. Dugan tries to get the other members of the Alpha Elite to fight her, but they all refuse, thus showing that they finally gained respect for her.

Col. Paul Dugan (Michael Ironside) Leads a JROTC-style program, the Alpha Elite, at Julie's school, and his style of instruction and morals he instills upon his students are very similar to those of John Kreese from the earlier films. In the last scene at the docks after Miyagi and Julie rescue Eric from being beaten up anymore, Col. Dugan and Mr. Miyagi engage in a fight. Mr. Miyagi easily defeats him, and as it seems that Mr. Miyagi will land one last fatal blow to Col. Dugan, he humorously blows on his nose and lets him drop to the ground (in the same style that Mr. Miyagi defeated Kreese at the start of the second movie) where his students look down at him with disappointing looks.

Louisa Pierce (Constance Towers) Julie's grandmother and only known living family member. She and Mr. Miyagi knew each other for many years since her late husband was a good friend of Miyagi during and after World War II. She was later sent to stay at Miyagi's home in Los Angeles so that he could look after and teach her granddaughter the techniques of virtue and discipline through karate and she also makes tacos for Julie's birthday.

Eric McGowen (Chris Conrad) A new student who joins Col. Dugan's group to someday become accepted into the Air Force Academy. He shows infatuation when in Julie's presence, even up to occasionally teasing her at times just for her to warm up to him. Although Julie initially disliked him (on account of him being part of Col. Dugan's ruthless group), she begins to bond more with him after he watches over her hawk, Angel as a favor when she was away for training. While he and Julie are at a school dance, he is confronted by Ned after a stunt went wrong. Ned then challenges him in front of the school, and while Eric wants to fight, Julie stops it. Later that night while Eric is dropping Julie off at home, Ned breaks the windows of Eric's car. While Julie runs inside to get Mr. Miyagi, Eric drives to the docks to confront Ned; however, he is ambushed by Col. Dugan and the rest of Ned's gang. They all then have a hand in beating Eric; he is then saved by Miyagi and Julie as they arrive.

Abbot (Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad) The Abbot is the lead monk of the monastery, as well as a kind, patient man, but one with limits.  For example, when Julie tries to kill a cockroach, he leads the rest of the monks in a vow of shunning, refusing to speak with Julie; in turn, Julie learns their vow to respect all living things. When Julie apologizes and brings him a Praying Mantis as a gift, the Abbot is grateful, calls off the shunning, and helps Miyagi train Julie. Later on, he and the monks inadvertently startle Julie while preparing to show a surprise birthday cake to her. Once they finished singing happy birthday, the Abbot says she is allowed one wish and one gift. Julie uses her wish to ask if some of the monks could come to visit her back home (which they grant, after consideration). As for the gift, they, along with Miyagi, give a demonstration of Zen Archery.

The Abbot is later seen with two other Monks approaching Julie's house, the Abbot bearing a gift to Miyagi. When Eric comes to pick up Julie, they, along with Miyagi, play the role of overprotective parents to see if Eric wouldn't take advantage of her. While Julie and Eric are at Prom, Miyagi at the behest of the monks takes them bowling. They inadvertently start a confrontation with the local player, but decide to settle it with a wager; the monks use their Zen abilities to win the game, which in turn wins the bet, and the player, humbled by his defeat, bows in respect. Later on, they teach him Zen Bowling as a token of friendship. The Abbot is last seen among the monks, warning Miyagi of Ned attacking Eric and Julie after they returned home from the prom.

It is unclear if the Abbot is Ichiro from The Karate Kid Part II, as they are both played by Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad. However, it is implied when Miyagi mentions to Julie, prior to introducing her to the monks, that they are Miyagi's old friends.

Ned Randall (Michael Cavalieri) is a skilled academy student and gang leader of the Alpha Elite with bullying tendencies. He constantly tries to flirt with Julie, only to be rejected by her multiple times. As a response to the rejections, he does whatever he can to make Julie's life miserable like getting her almost suspended from school by lying to Col. Dugan that Julie was smoking, causing her to shove him and storm off. Later, after he sees Eric with Julie at the dance and when he sees them kiss in Eric's car, he smashes the car windows and challenges him to a fight. After he and the other members of his gang beat up Eric, Julie and Mr. Miyagi find them and leave with Eric, only to be stopped by Ned who tries to grab Julie. They both fight and Julie manages to defeat him. When Col. Dugan tries to force the others to fight Julie, they all refuse, as they have gained respect for her. After Col. Dugan was defeated by Miyagi, Ned expresses his disappointment in him, saying "You said, you had all the answers, Colonel. You were wrong."

Towards the end of the film, Ned demonstrates a degree of morality that indicates he wasn't entirely a bad person. When Dugan orders the boys to finish Eric off, Ned's expression indicates that he was shocked and reluctant to harm someone when they're incapacitated. Also, when Colonel Dugan tells him to "put her away" before fighting Julie, Ned looks at Dugan with a shocked expression before reluctantly agreeing. This demonstrates that while he'd be happy to beat someone up, he may have qualms about harming anyone to the point of disabling or potentially killing someone.

Charlie (Walton Goggins) One of Ned's friends and a fellow student of the Alpha Elite. After witnessing Col. Dugan putting so much pressure onto Ned of severely beating Eric McGowan at the docks, he sympathizes to Ned that he doesn't have to keep going at it. Col. Dugan then tries to force him to fight Julie (along with the other members) but he also refuses to fight after Ned is defeated by her. He is much like Cobra Kai student Bobby Brown from the original film.

Tall Monk (Jim Ishida)

Monk (Rodney Kageyama)

Buddhist Monk (Seth Sakai)

Mr. Harold Wilkes (Eugene Boles)

School Clerk (Kenna Keel)

Gabe (Tom O'Brien)

Morgan (Thomas Downey)

Amanda Montana-LaRusso (Courtney Henggeler) is Daniel's wife and co-owner of LaRusso Auto Group. While she is fully supportive of her husband's return to karate, Amanda is instrumental in moderating her husband's animosity to Johnny and encouraging at least the beginning of a reconciliation. Furthermore, she is instrumental in encouraging Daniel to not only forgive his protege, Robby Keene, for hiding that he is Johnny's son but also become Robby's coach again during the karate tournament.

In Season 2, LaRusso Auto Group has gone into a slump, which Amanda and Daniel reverse by accomplishing a herculean task of selling ten cars in one day. However, she is not happy when Daniel spends more time developing Miyagi-do Karate than helping her manage their dealership chain. When one of their best salesmen, an employee named Anoush, expresses his grievances, they are brushed aside by Daniel. After Daniel blows off lunch with Anoush, he comes to an showroom to be met by no one save for Amanda, who said Anoush was headhunted away by rival car dealer Tom Cole. When Daniel tries to reconcile by taking his wife out to a Mexican restaurant, he is surprised by see Johnny at the same place with Carmen Diaz. Amanda defuses the situation by suggesting Carmen and Johnny should double date with them.

When the rivalry of the dojos leads to a violent mass fight on the first day of school that renders Miguel in intensive care with undetermined spinal injuries and Samantha hospitalized with likely broken ribs, Amanda puts her foot down and forces Daniel to give up his intent of Cobra Kai's demise, as well as stop Miyagi-Do and karate activities.

In Season 3, Amanda and Daniel struggle to keep LaRusso Auto Group operating as the high school brawl has damaged their reputation. When she learns of Kreese's students attacking Sam and breaking Demetri's arm, Amanda attempts to get Cobra Kai shut down legally, but only receives a restraining order after slapping Kreese. Amanda approves of Miyagi-Do reopening to stop Cobra Kai.

Miguelito "Miguel" Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) is a teenage asthmatic with low self-esteem and is Johnny's neighbor. While shopping for Pepto-Bismol for his grandmother at a strip mall in Reseda, he is attacked by a group of rich bullies led by Kyler after accidentally foiling their plans to buy beer. The bullies nickname him "Rhea" after noticing the bottle of Pepto-Bismol and dumping it all over him. When the bullies shove Miguel on Johnny's car, Johnny attacks them before he is arrested. Miguel becomes Johnny's first student in the new Cobra Kai dojo. Aside from learning karate, he is the dojo's housekeeper and website administrator. Though initially reluctant and mocking towards him, Johnny quickly comes to care for Miguel, becoming a father figure to him, despite objections from his mother. When Daniel's daughter Samantha confronts Kyler over rumors he spread about her, Miguel beats up Kyler and his clique, gaining popularity in the school and earning Johnny's gi. Despite Johnny warning that he should avoid the LaRussos, Miguel begins dating Samantha. Unfortunately, they break up after Miguel wrongly suspects Samantha of cheating on him with Johnny's son, Robby, leading to Miguel accidentally punching Samantha during an altercation with Robby. Cobra Kai's thuggish philosophy begins to affect Miguel's values and he becomes much more violent and ruthless, to Johnny's eventual disapproval.

In Season 2, Miguel is reprimanded by Johnny for attacking Robby Keene's injured shoulder during the final round of the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Championships. He develops a relationship with new student Tory, but he still has feelings for Samantha. On the first day back in school, Miguel once again battles Robby during the school rumble between the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do Karate students. He gets Robby in an arm lock and nearly decides to break his arm, but chooses to let him go after remembering a conversation with Johnny during which his sensei regrets over not learning to show mercy at a younger age. However, Robby retaliates by kicking Miguel, accidentally sending him falling off the second floor and severely injuring him.

In Season 3, Miguel is initially resentful to Johnny for his predicament about showing mercy, but slowly reconciles with him when the latter becomes personally involved in his physical rehabilitation. Under Johnny's mentorship, he is able to gain full function of his legs. Miguel agrees to help Johnny create a new martial arts school and cuts his ties with his Cobra Kai friends, mending his relationship with Sam and starting a friendship with Daniel in the process. Miguel also works with Sam to prevent the All-Valley tournament from being cancelled and aids her in creating an alliance between Johnny's new school and Miyagi-Do, helping her fight off a recent Cobra Kai assault on the LaRusso residence, defeating Kyler again. He later aids Sam in convincing Daniel in sparing Kreese. During the aftermath, Johnny and Miguel bring their fellow students to the Miyagi dojo to help train with Daniel's students.

Samantha M. LaRusso (Mary Mouser as teenager; Reese TinLee as young child) is Daniel and Amanda's 16-year-old daughter, who was taught karate by her father at a young age. She hangs out with the other rich, popular girls at her high school. Her relationship with her father is strained by his meddling in her potential romance with a fellow student named Kyler, but they reconcile after Samantha sees Kyler bully Miguel's friend group and subsequently ends their relationship. When Kyler begins spreading lies about her, Samantha is briefly friendless. Miguel eventually defends her and defeats Kyler's clique in a lunchroom fight, after which he and Samantha begin dating. Samantha really likes Miguel but hides their relationship from her parents because of her father's history with Cobra Kai. A series of assumptions and misunderstandings lead Miguel to believe that Samantha is ashamed of him and is involved with Daniel's new student Robby Keene. During a party on a beach, Miguel attempts to pick a fight with Robby but accidentally hits Samantha instead. Samantha is upset with Miguel's behavior and breaks up with him. After a second confrontation with Miguel at the All-Valley Tournament, Samantha returns home and resumes her own karate training.

In Season 2, Samantha blocks Miguel from social media and bonds with Robby as they continue their training in Miyagi-Do Karate. However, her friendship with Aisha Robinson sours after Daniel indirectly slights Cobra Kai in his Miyagi-Do Karate commercial and Cobra Kai crashes Miyagi-Do Karate's presentation at the Valley Fest in retaliation. She also develops a romance with Robby but continues to have some feelings for Miguel. This leads to a heated rivalry between her and new Cobra Kai student and Miguel's new girlfriend Tory. During a party at Moon's house, Samantha beats Tory in a drinking contest, but she ends up in a drinking binge until Robby brings her to Johnny's apartment after the police raid the party. On the first day of school, Samantha and Tory get into a fight, which sparks a huge brawl between both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do members all throughout the school halls. Despite sustaining broken ribs and injuries during the fight, Samantha defeats Tory. She ends up in the hospital, hoping that Miguel is okay. By the end of season two, she had turned 17.

In Season 3, Sam recovers from her injuries but suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after the fight from school and her confrontation with Tory. She attempts to restart Miyagi-Do in response to continued attacks from Cobra Kai. After another brawl with Cobra Kai which leads to Demetri having his arm broken, Sam decides to quit karate but Daniel convinces her to change her mind. She and Miguel reconcile but her relationship with Robby is strained when he mistakes her as cheating on him, leading to Robby ending their relationship. She and Miguel convince their dojos to merge together to take down Cobra Kai. When Tory and the other Cobra Kai's attack them, Sam conquers her fear and takes down Tory. She later stops Daniel from killing Kreese.

Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro) is Daniel and Amanda's eleven-year-old son. He is a rather spoiled, demanding, and gluttonous child, which has led to him becoming incredibly fat, who spends the majority of his time playing video games. Anthony refuses to learn karate from his father, saying it is boring. It is revealed during the show that he was an unintended pregnancy after what was supposed to be a karate session between Daniel and Amanda.

Anthony is sent to summer camp throughout Season 2.

In Season 3, Anthony is thinner and appears to play soccer.

Carmen Diaz (Vanessa Rubio) is Miguel's mother and works at a hospital as an x-ray technologist. She married at age 18 but left her husband after learning the truth about his job, which showed her that he was a very bad man. Carmen (then pregnant with Miguel) and her mother Rosa fled Ecuador to seek safety in America. The trio has moved frequently and was living in Riverside before moving to Reseda. Carmen opposes violence, and it takes some convincing by Johnny for her to allow Miguel to continue with his training. Carmen is nervous and worried about Miguel being hurt or losing during the All-Valley karate championship, but she and Rosa attend the tournament to cheer for him.

In Season 2, Johnny starts developing feelings for Carmen but discovers that she is dating a British man named Graham. One night at a bar, while having drinks with a Tinder date, Johnny overhears Graham not taking his relationship with Carmen seriously and attacks him outside the bar. A few days later, Johnny takes Carmen out on a date at a Mexican restaurant, unaware that Daniel and Amanda are also having their date there. As Johnny and Daniel's animosity for each other cools down, Carmen teaches Johnny how to dance. After Miguel is severely injured by Robby in a fight, Carmen breaks up with Johnny.

In Season 3, Carmen and Johnny reconcile when the latter becomes physically involved in helping with Miguel's rehabilitation, but has her reservations about Miguel training again. Despite this, when the All-Valley Tournament is in danger of being terminated, Carmen urges Johnny to save the tournament after realizing how much the tournament has helped both Miguel and Johnny. After Johnny succeeds in convincing the City Council to halt their effort to cancel the All-Valley competition, they enter a romantic relationship, with the pair uncertain about it becoming serious.

Rosa (Rose Bianco) is Miguel's grandmother and Carmen's mother. Though she understands and speaks some English, she mostly speaks in Spanish throughout the series. Unlike Carmen, Rosa is supportive of Miguel's karate training. This extends to protecting Miguel from his mother finding out that he was involved in a fight at school.

Robert Swayze "Robby" Keene (Tanner Buchanan) is Johnny's estranged 16-year-old son. He drops out of school when he gets in trouble for drugs, after which he and his friends Kev and Trey spend their days engaged in petty theft. Johnny tried to reconcile with him at the apartment he lives at with his single mother, but he rebuffs him by telling him he's done with school and tells him to leave. To spite his father, Robby begins working at LaRusso Auto Group, while Kev and Trey convince him to help them rob the dealership. Despite his original ulterior motive, Robby grows to appreciate the LaRussos' faith in him and breaks away from his miscreant friends. Robby becomes Daniel's Miyagi-Do karate student and flourishes under this tutelage. When Daniel finds out that Johnny and Robby are father and son, he furiously banishes Robby from his home and business. Undaunted by this rejection, Robby enters the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Championships tournament with no affiliation and advances towards the finals, impressing Daniel. This, combined with his wife's encouragement to forgive the boy for his previous mistakes, convinces Daniel to officially become Robby's sensei again and allow the boy to fight under the Miyagi-Do name during the final match. Robby sustains a shoulder injury from Hawk's illegal attack during the semi-finals and ultimately finishes second to Miguel, who exploited Robby's shoulder injury to win a close match. Impressed with Robby's performance and disgusted with his students' increasingly thuggish behavior, Johnny apologizes to Robby, who politely accepts it. Regardless of this loss, Daniel praises Robby's performance and takes him to Mr. Miyagi's old rest house to explain his plans to restart the Miyagi-Do dojo with Robby as his senior protege.

In Season 2, Robby moves in with the LaRusso family after his mother leaves with her boyfriend and is evicted from their apartment due to unpaid bills. He and Samantha bond closely while training in Miyagi-Do Karate. After Robby takes Samantha to Johnny's apartment after getting drunk at a party, Daniel accuses Robby of following the footsteps of his father and is kicked out of their home. With his mother in rehab, Robby is forced to live with Johnny, and the pair slowly start to reconcile. During the karate war between the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do Karate students at school, Robby once again battles Miguel. Miguel traps Robby in an arm lock, intent on breaking his arm, but decides to let go of him after remembering Johnny's advice of showing mercy and apologizes. However, Robby gets up and counterattacks, inadvertently kicking Miguel over the balcony railing, sending him crashing on a handrail of stairs and leaving him with potentially crippling or life-threatening injuries.

In Season 3, Robby is expelled from school and goes into hiding for several weeks, stealing a used car from LaRusso Autos. Daniel discovers that Robby is visiting his mother Shannon in rehab and arranges to have the police arrest him, believing that Robby will get a lighter sentence if he surrenders. However, Robby angrily accuses Daniel of betraying him and ends their relationship by telling Daniel not to visit him in juvenile hall. During his incarceration at a juvenile detention center, Robby is visited by Kreese who convinces him of the philosophy of striking first. Robby engages in a large brawl with a group of inmates who repeatedly harassed him, which Robby ends up winning. Robby is soon released from juvenile but rebuffs both Daniel and Johnny when they arrive to pick him up. When he goes to the Miyagi dojo, Robby discovers Sam and Miguel training together and accuses her of cheating on him. With nowhere else to go, Robby decides to join Cobra Kai. He befriends Tory after finding common ground in each other's broken home lives and their own betrayals. As a new member, Robby proves himself after stealing a snake from the zoo for Kreese. After Tory leads an attack on Daniel's home, Johnny confronts Kreese at the dojo, only to be horrified that Robby has become his pupil. Johnny fights both Kreese and Robby, unintentionally knocking the latter unconscious. Daniel joins the fray, and he and Johnny defeat Kreese before Miguel and Sam intervene to stop the fight. When Robby regains consciousness, he coldly orders Daniel, Johnny, Miguel and Sam to leave before continuing his training with Kreese. Having cut all ties to Miyagi-do, Kreese vows to make Robby his star pupil.

Shannon Keene (Diora Baird) is Johnny's ex-wife and Robby's mother. She is shown to be rather neglectful of her son, barely noticing him effectively quitting school or his criminal behavior. Shannon resents both Johnny's absence and his attempts to be present. She is also an alcoholic and spends most of her time at bars, hoping to find a rich man to marry her.

In Season 2, Shannon leaves Robby alone in their apartment to spend the summer with a boyfriend in Cabo San Lucas. Her boyfriend assures that he has paid the rent and the utility bills, but Robby discovers this as a lie, as he moves to the LaRussos' home after receiving an eviction notice. By the end of summer, Shannon shows up at the LaRussos' home, begging Robby for forgiveness for all the mistakes she has made over the years and about to seek medical attention for her drinking and pill-popping. She also recommends that Robby seek out Johnny, as both his parents care for him.

In Season 3, Shannon is in a rehab facility where Daniel and Johnny visit her to ask where Robby may be hiding. During their search Robby visits her and Shannon tips off Daniel, who arranges for the police to show up.

Sid Weinberg (Ed Asner in S1 eps. 1 and 8 and S3 ep. 3; Michael H. Cole as the younger 1970s Sid in S1 ep. 6) is Johnny Lawrence's stepfather and a retired film producer. While Sid loved Johnny's now-deceased mother, Laura, he disliked Johnny, and was hostile to the fact that he had to support Johnny financially. Sid's outlet for this support was a relationship with Johnny-based entirely on verbal abuse, making Johnny's well-to-do life in Encino psychologically unbearable. It was this troubled relationship with Sid that led Johnny to turn to both Cobra Kai as an alternative family, and to John Kreese, as an alternative father figure (who would ultimately replicate Sid's pattern of abuse).

Because Sid promised Laura on her death-bed that he would support Johnny, he perpetually had to bail him out of trouble with the law. Finally Sid offers Johnny a check to disown him, which Johnny initially tears up, saying he would rather die homeless than accept money from his stepfather. However, when Johnny realizes he needs funds to build his dojo, he tapes the check back together, and uses the money to rent vacant space in a Reseda strip mall. By the middle of Season 1, when Cobra Kai becomes a successful business, Johnny returns all of the money to Sid, and vows never to return.

In Season 3, Johnny approaches Sid to fund for Miguel's surgery, and even resorts to blackmailing Sid for an undisclosed sexual harassment incident involving his secretary, only for Sid to rebuff him without remorse. In retaliation, Johnny steals one of Sid's valuable art sculptures and pawns it to pay for Miguel's surgery.

Laura Lawrence (Candace Moon) is Johnny Lawrence's mother. Although she married Sid to give Johnny a comfortable lifestyle, Johnny is miserable living with his stepfather. He was very close to his mother, who died shortly before Robby was born in 2002.

Eli Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand) is Demetri's friend in school. He is a victim of cyberbullying due to his cleft lip surgery scar. Eli is initially quiet, shy, and sensitive, and he is told by doctors that he may be on the autism spectrum. He joins Cobra Kai, where Johnny nicknames him "Lip" due to his scar, but he takes Johnny's advice of "flipping the script" and undergoes an attitude change. Eli cuts his hair into a mohawk, gets an eagle with a mohawk tattooed on his back, developing a much more aggressive and rather antagonistic personality, and is dubbed Hawk by Johnny. In the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament, Hawk is disqualified for dishonorably attacking Robby from behind before the round begins in a very similar fashion to Bobby from the first film; unlike Bobby, he was unapologetic for his actions.

In season 2, Hawk is reprimanded by Johnny for his actions during the tournament. Despite this, he becomes more aggressive and forms his own gang with some of the newer students. Hawk's friendship with Demetri crumbles after the latter joins Miyagi-do and posts a negative review of Cobra Kai on Yelp. Demetri is confronted by Hawk and his gang at the mall, but they are defeated by Samantha and Robby. As a result, his girlfriend Moon breaks up with him for beating up Demetri. Encouraged by John Kreese, Hawk and his gang vandalize the Miyagi-do Karate dojo, Daniel's prized 1948 Ford Super De Luxe convertible, and stealing Mr. Miyagi's Medal of Honor. During a training exercise in Coyote Creek, Miguel learns of Hawk's crimes and defeats him in a match, taking the medal with him and returning it to Daniel via Robby. During a party at Moon's house, Demetri makes an effort to reconnect but is rebuffed and humiliated when Hawk pours booze over his head. Demetri subsequently calls out Hawk by telling everyone at the party about his former days as a nerd. Hawk loses it when Demetri brings up his sleep enuresis and leads a standoff between the rival students before the police break up the party. On the first day of school, Hawk takes advantage of a scuffle with Tory and Samantha to incite a gang fight between the dojos. In the fracas, Hawk targets Demetri with unrelenting viciousness but is defeated by him. Following the fight, Hawk turns against Johnny and sides with Kreese when he takes over Cobra Kai. Hawk openly blames Johnny for Miguel's injuries caused by Robby.

In season 3, Hawk continues his antagonistic streak but becomes increasingly conflicted with his loyalty to Cobra Kai. He questions some of Kreese's decisions including removing several students for their perceived weakness, as well as Kreese inviting Kyler and Brucks as fellow allies after the pair bullied him in Season 1. In addition, Hawk is pressured into breaking Demetri's arm during a brawl which he does with some obvious reluctance. Hawk later on viciously beats up Brucks after he, Kyler, and other new recruits join Cobra Kai. At school, Hawk and Miguel's friendship ends after he learns what he did to Demetri. When Robby joins Cobra Kai, he becomes bitter towards him. While at the zoo to steal a Chinese Cobra for Kreese, Hawk, Tory, Kyler, Robby, and several other students are chased out thinking that they have failed but Robby returns with the snake which everyone is happy for except him. After being shunned over his behavior by both Miguel and Johnny, Hawk breaks away from Cobra Kai during Tory's assault on the LaRusso residence, coming to his best friend's defense and reconciling with Demetri. Hawk and Demetri then take down several Cobra Kai students together. Tory threatens Hawk to watch his back, but Demetri informs her that Hawk's friends will do it for him. Hawk reconciles with Miguel and Johnny and joins Eagle Fang Karate. Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang subsequently begin training together to defeat Cobra Kai and Hawk and Demetri stand together as they start.

Aisha Robinson (Nichole Brown) is Samantha's best childhood friend. She is the daughter of Isaiah Robinson (Chris Mason), a hall of fame linebacker for the Chargers. Even though Aisha comes from a wealthy family, she is left out by Yasmine's clique due to her size and intellectual personality. Her friendship with Samantha becomes strained when the latter joins Yasmine's clique and Aisha becomes an object of ridicule in school after Yasmine posts a fat shaming video of her during the Halloween dance. As a result, Aisha becomes the target of relentless bullying at school. In response, she attempts to enroll in the Cobra Kai dojo, but Johnny tells her that the dojo does not allow women. Miguel, however, talks him into letting Aisha in, as the dojo needs more students and he needs the money. Johnny quickly warms to Aisha after seeing her powerful attack against Miguel, calling her a "natural Cobra." Later, upon learning online that Yasmine is hosting a birthday party at the canyon park, Aisha gets everyone she knows in school to attend before Yasmine and her clique arrives, thus ending Yasmine's control of the gathering. During the party, Aisha further exacts her revenge on Yasmine by giving her a front wedgie. Later, during the quarterfinals of the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament, Aisha is eliminated by Xander Stone but reconciles with Samantha in the process.

In Season 2, Aisha has gotten in better shape, and her parents have praised Johnny for helping her follow her father's athletic footsteps. Aisha's friendship with Samantha becomes strained again when Daniel insults Cobra Kai in his Miyagi-do Karate commercial, and Cobra Kai crashes Miyagi-do Karate's presentation at the Valley Fest. Aisha becomes close friends with new Cobra Kai student Tory, and is angered when Samantha accuses Tory of stealing her mother's wallet, due to lack of proof. A reconciliation is made when Aisha apologizes for the trashing of the Miyagi-Do dojo, also revealing that Johnny put all the Cobra Kai students through grueling physical exercise in an attempt to smoke out the vandals, and that neither she nor Miguel were participants, in fact Miguel going so far as to recapture Mr. Miyagi's stolen Medal of Honor from Hawk and return it to Robby (a fact Robby lied to Samantha about earlier). Aisha is noticeably absent at Cobra Kai when Kreese seizes the dojo from Johnny, suggesting that she may not have approved of Kreese's takeover.

In Season 3, Aisha is mentioned to have been transferred to a private school and her family moved out of their home after the school rumble.

Kyung-soo "Kyler" Lee (Joe Seo) is a high school boy from a wealthy Asian family originally from Irvine. One night, he and his friends bully Miguel at a strip mall but are attacked by Johnny. When Daniel learns that Samantha is developing a friendship with Kyler, he invites Kyler over for a family dinner, where he notices that Kyler has bruises on his head and hands. Upon learning of where he got the bruises, Daniel confronts Johnny over the attack and the reformation of the Cobra Kai dojo. Kyler tries to make advances on Samantha, but she dumps him after seeing him and his gang bully Miguel and his friends. In retaliation, he spreads nasty rumors about her to the whole high school. Kyler eventually fears Miguel after he and his clique are defeated in a brawl during lunch break.

During Season 3, Kyler is recruited into Cobra Kai by Kreese, leading to tensions with Hawk. He beat Mitch in their fight and took his spot at Cobra Kai. At school, Kyler drew a penis on Demeteri's cast. Kyler went join the other Cobra Kai's students on their mission to steal the cobra from the zoo, but he forgot the snake pole which almost resulted in them failing the mission. Luckily for Kyler, Robby managed to get the cobra. In the season finale, Kyler and the other Cobra Kai's students attacked Miyagi-do & Eagle Fang students at the LaRusso's house and he lost another fight against Miguel.

Demetri Hevrolin (Gianni Decenzo) is Eli's best friend and a member of Miguel's high school friend group. He is a very sarcastic and underconfident nerd, and not inclined and has a fixed mindset towards physical activities. Demetri quits on his first day of Cobra Kai training after being humiliated by Johnny, but he continues to support Miguel. He is shocked and confused of how Eli's change of style suddenly turned his life around. Eli explains that it's not him alone changing his style, rather it being this new attitude he's developed, advising Demetri to do the same. At the end of the tournament, he tells Miguel that he considers rejoining Cobra Kai.

In Season 2, Demetri attempts to rejoin Cobra Kai but receives a bloody nose from John Kreese after making unflattering comments on his arm tattoo and then touching it. As a result, Demetri opts to join Miyagi-do Karate. Demetri received threats from Hawk over posting a negative review of Cobra Kai on Yelp. He tests Daniel's patience with his sarcasm and numerous excuses about his weak arms and legs. Demetri struggles to learn the ways of karate, but Daniel tells him that he has the gift of anticipation, which slightly increases his confidence. During a party at Moon's house, Demetri attempts to reconcile with Hawk, but Hawk responds by dumping his drink on Demetri, having been enraged by Moon's coming out as a lesbian. Later in the party, Demetri calls out Hawk in front of all of the guests, revealing embarrassing stories from when they were still friends. During the student rumble at school, Hawk battles Demetri, but Demetri defeats him after sending him crashing through a trophy case.

In Season 3, Demetri continues as part of Miyagi-Do and continues to suffer bullying from an increasingly repentant Hawk with Hawk breaking Demetri's arm at one point, albeit with some reluctance. When given the chance to break Demetri's arm again during the brawl at the end of the season, Hawk instead comes to his best friend's defense and reconciles with Demetri. Demetri and Hawk then fight side-by-side against the Cobra Kai students, taking down several together. When a defeated Tory threatens Hawk, Demetri tells her that Hawk's friends have his back. Shortly thereafter, Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang begin training together to take down Cobra Kai and the reconciled Hawk and Demetri stand together. Demetri also began a romantic relationship with Yasmine.

Albert "Bert" McDonald (Owen Morgan) is a diminutive junior student of Cobra Kai. On the day of the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament, he tells his teammates that he saw a drunk Johnny urinating on his own car and yelling, "We are all gonna die!", but he never thought of telling them earlier because he thought it was normal for Johnny to act that way. Bert is eliminated in the first round, but Johnny and the other Cobra Kai students remark Bert was horribly outmatched as he was facing a much bigger kid. He was also seen with all the Cobra Kai students mixing concrete as punishment from Johnny, who was annoyed with the overconfident attitude of his class in wake of winning the tournament. When Samantha and Robby attend an end-of-summer party hosted by Moon, they are shocked to see all the Cobra Kai students there, even Bert. Moon reveals she invited all Cobras and Miyagi-Do students in an attempt to foster peace between the dojos.

During the student brawl in the end of Season 2, Bert fights Nathaniel, a former Cobra Kai student who defected to Miyagi-do Karate, until both boys are taken away from the hallway by one of the security guards.

In Season 3, he is kicked out of Cobra Kai by John Kreese after he displays hesitation at letting a snake eat a mouse. Other Cobra Kai students who objected to this were also kicked out. Instead, he joins Johnny's new Eagle Fang Karate. After Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang begin training together to take down Cobra Kai, Bert and Nathaniel shake hands before standing together.

Benjamin "Brucks" Eagen (Bo Mitchell) is Kyler's obese and rather dimwitted best friend. He is often heard saying, "That's brute, Ky!" while Kyler harasses and assaults Miguel. After he, Kyler, and the rest of their clique are defeated by Miguel, they leave Miguel, Demetri, and Eli alone.

In Season 3, he is recruited into Cobra Kai alongside Kyler by Kreese, but is beaten to a bloody pulp by Hawk during his tryout.

Louie LaRusso Jr. (Bret Ernst) is Daniel's cousin and a LaRusso Auto Group sales agent. He is portrayed as a childish and unprofessional man who seems to enjoy living off of his cousin's success and setting people up. Louie's antics range from allegedly running a casino in the break room at Daniel's dealership to dishonestly assigning tasks to the newly employed Robby that could get him fired, such as tricking him into starting a car in the dealership's showroom during a sales event. In retaliation for the vandalism of one of the LaRusso Auto Group's billboards by Johnny, Louie hires a group of bikers to destroy Johnny's car in Daniel's name, but the bikers are beaten up by Johnny, who finds out from Louie where Daniel lives and takes one of the motorcycles to confront Daniel over the incident. Louie is subsequently fired for his actions by Daniel.

In Season 3, Louie is rehired and this time, becomes more responsible and professional. Using the dealership's inventory database, he reveals to Daniel and Amanda that Robby stole a minivan after the school rumble.

Anoush Norouzi (Dan Ahdoot) is a LaRusso Auto Group sales agent.

In Season 2, Anoush is transferred from the Encino branch to the North Hollywood branch. After being attacked by Johnny, who is looking for Robby, Anoush leaves LaRusso Auto Group to join Cole's on Van Nuys when he is offered a better position by Tom Cole. Daniel is unable to offer Anoush a counter offer due to his focus on his Miyagi-do Karate students.

In Season 3, Anoush eventually reveals to Louie Jr. that Doyona is dumping LaRusso Auto Group for Cole's on Van Nuys. Eventually, Anoush quits and returns to Daniel's dealership.

Counselor Blatt (Erin Bradley Dangar) is the high school guidance counselor. She has known Daniel and Ali from the time they attended the school. In Season 3, following the school rumble, Counselor Blatt keeps an eye on the warring karate factions, but turns a blind eye on the antics of Hawk's gang while punishing Samantha's group.

Yasmine (Annalisa Cochrane) is Samantha's classmate and the leader of a clique of popular girls in their high school. She takes pleasure in cyberbullying Aisha and looking down at less privileged students. One night, while driving with Moon and Samantha, she accidentally hits the rear of Johnny's parked car (outside the All-Valley Sports Arena) when she is distracted by texting. The girls flee the scene after a drunk Johnny scares them off. Later, Yasmine kicks Samantha out of her clique after hearing rumors spread by Kyler after Samantha dumps him. She plans a birthday party at the canyon park, but Aisha ruins her plans by hosting a party there first. Yasmine is further humiliated with a front wedgie by Aisha.

Yasmine is not seen in Season 2, but it is mentioned by Moon that she is in France for the summer. Aisha, still harboring resentment and anger toward Yasmine, annoyingly states to Moon: "Tell her she can stay in France."

Yasmine returns in Season 3 and still remains antagonistic. However, she softens considerably after seeing Demetri bullied by Kreese’s new Cobra Kai students. She and Demetri enter a romantic relationship towards the season’s conclusion.

Moon (Hannah Kepple) is a member of Yasmine's popular girl clique. She has a new-age hippie fashion sense and is also attracted to Hawk. When the Cobra Kai students hold a party at the canyon park to prevent Yasmine from hosting her planned birthday party there, Moon apologizes to Aisha for her previous behavior and is then banished from Yasmine's clique. At the All-Valley tournament, Moon sits with Demetri and cheers for Hawk.

In Season 2, Moon breaks up with Hawk for attacking Demitri at the mall over a negative review on Cobra Kai he posted on Yelp, saying that she would not date a bully. She then tries to get both Miyagi-Do Karate and Cobra Kai students to get along by throwing a party. It is at this party that Hawk learns that Moon has moved on and now has a girlfriend named Piper.

In Season 3, after the school rumble, Moon and several other students take a neutral stance and partake in peaceful protests for the Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do students to become friends. Moon also starts a fundraiser at a car wash to help pay for Miguel’s surgery; she also tells Sam that she is a feminist who believes her body is an expression. During a soccer game, Hawk winks at Moon, who ignores it and flirts with a different boy instead. Demetri also taunts Hawk by telling him he lost “the hottest girl in school”.

Nestor (Vas Sanchez) runs Reseda Flats Mini Mart at the strip mall. He displays no regard for hygiene by handing Johnny a slice of pizza with his bare hand and without a paper plate. He is seen in later episodes, one time approving a sale of beer to Hawk as he fails to detect Hawk's fake ID; another time remarking to Johnny he may have to close up shop as their landlord doubled their rent. He also gets insulted by Kreese when they both buy beer at his mini-mart before Daniel confronts the two.

Lynn (Susan Gallagher) (colloquially known as Homeless Lynn among fans and the media) is a homeless woman who hangs around the strip mall. Johnny hires her to hold a sign to let passers-by know about the Cobra Kai dojo. She is also seen harassing Moon and Yasmine for money at the parking lot.

In Season 3, Johnny encounters Lynn in a soup kitchen as he visits Robby, who is serving his community service.

Tom Cole (David Shatraw) is the owner of Cole's on Van Nuys, a rival automotive dealership. Daniel confronts him over his latest commercial that copies LaRusso Auto Group's concept. When Tom insults Daniel over a vandalized billboard, Daniel responds by kicking the boba tea out of his hand.

Tom is not seen in season 2, but it is mentioned that a lot of Daniel's employees have left LaRusso Auto Group to work for Cole's on Van Nuys, including Anoush.

In Season 3, Tom wants to buy Daniel's Van Nuys location after making a deal with Doyona. After the LaRussos refuse Cole's offer and Anoush returning to Daniel's dealership, Cole ends up leaving in anger.

Rhonda (Carole Kaboya) is Sid's caregiver.

Armand Zarkarian (Ken Davitian) is an Armenian-American real estate tycoon. Armand and Daniel are the only members of the Encino Oaks Country Club who come from a lower-class background and earned their own money instead of inheriting it.

Facing stiff competition from Tom Cole, Daniel asks Armand to find him property in Reseda for a new dealership location; in exchange, he will have the Encino Oaks Country Club reinstate Armand's membership (it is implied that Armand was blacklisted for urinating in the country club's shower room). Armand initially offers the strip mall but backs out when he suspects Daniel has an ulterior motive for the location. Instead, he doubles the rent of the strip mall's tenants, which is actually part of Daniel's elaborate scheme to shut down Cobra Kai.

In Season 2, Armand threatens to increase Johnny's rent when the Cobra Kai dojo receives more students. He also imposes a fee on the storage room behind the dojo, even though it was part of the lease Johnny signed. In the end, Armand backs down his demands to Johnny following a handshake deal. By the end of the season, however, it is revealed, that Armand made a secret deal with Kreese to take the dojo away from Johnny.

In Season 3, Armand agrees to a deal with Amanda to evict Kreese out of the strip mall, despite Kreese consistently paying his rent on time. He calls off the deal after he and his nephews fail to remove Kreese from the dojo.

Rolan Zarkarian (Alex Huff) is Armand's son. He and Anthony bicker over who has the more powerful father.

Cruz (Jeff Kaplan) and Trey (Terayle Hill) are Robby's deadbeat friends who spend their time committing petty theft. Earlier in the series, Cruz sports a mustache, but he shaves it off after being mocked by Johnny. Upon learning that Robby landed a job at LaRusso Auto Group, they ask him to obtain the PIN number of the dealership's garage so they can steal some car parts. When Robby refuses to give them the passcode, Cruz and Trey attempt to attack him but Robby fights them off with his new karate skills. Eventually they corner him, but quickly run away upon discovering that their activities have been recorded on a security camera.

In Season 2, Robby once again confronts Cruz and Trey at the Oaks on the Beach Country Club when he catches them stealing wallets, but he is knocked out by a new third member of their gang. Daniel steps in to incapacitate the gang and save Robby. Robby has the whole confrontation recorded on his phone, but Daniel asks him not to use the footage to promote Miyagi-Do Karate, reminding him that karate is only for defense and protection.

In Season 3, Cruz and Trey are shown to be in prison. Johnny and Daniel visit them and force them to reveal information on Robby's possible whereabouts.

Daryl (Keith Arthur Bolden) is an African-American member of the All Valley Committee and the announcer for the 2018 All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships. He suggests changing the tournament's colors from red and white to blue and gold to improve the tournament's declining attendance numbers. Daryl also admires Cobra Kai for being "a badass name for a dojo".

Ron (Matt Lewis) is a senior member of the All Valley Committee. Despite Daniel's vehement objections to lifting the lifetime ban on Cobra Kai from competing at the All-Valley Tournament, Ron opts to let Johnny make his case and put the matter to a vote. He, Daryl, and Sue ultimately outvote Daniel and George to lift the ban. In Season 3, he told Daniel and Amanda that the council was considering cancelling the All-Valley Under 18 Tournament and told them of an upcoming meeting to attend to fight the cancellation.

Sue (Cara AnnMarie) is the only female member of the All Valley Committee. She admonishes Daniel for his insensitivity when Johnny is under the notion Kreese is deceased. After listening to Johnny admit that Cobra Kai indeed had past sins and explains what he hopes to accomplish, states that their community could use more men like him, which Johnny greatly appreciates.

George (Kurt Yue) is an Asian-American member of the All Valley Committee. He is a close friend of Daniel and supports his vote on keeping Cobra Kai banned from competing in the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships, but they are outvoted by Daryl, Ron, and Sue.

Xander Stone (Talin Chat) represents the Topanga karate school and is the defending All Valley Under-18 Karate Champion. He is eliminated in the semi-finals by Miguel, but takes his loss like a gentleman, bowing to Miguel.

Patricia Stone (Suehyla El-Attar) is Xander's mother. She sits next to Amanda during the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships.

Mrs. Jenkins (Linda Boston) is the Vice-Principal of North Hills High School. She often contacts Shannon about Robby's disciplinary issues, such as constant truancy. However, when Shannon is nowhere to be found, Mrs. Jenkins contacts Johnny instead, informing him his son was caught with an illegal drug. Johnny chastises Robby over the phone for this behavior, warning him he will be throwing his life away, to which Robby retorts in that case "he will turn into his father".

Judy (Kylie Delre) is a rich woman who gets into a heated argument with Johnny in episode 1 after he mounts her TV on the wrong wall in her house. During the argument, he tells her to "stop bitching" at him, which she misinterprets as him calling her a bitch; this incident gets him fired from his old job as a handyman. Judy makes a return in Season 2 as one of Johnny's Tinder dates. Remembering the last time they met, she storms out of the restaurant, swearing off dating apps.

Victoria "Tory" Nichols (Peyton List) is a student who joins Cobra Kai in Season 2 and becomes Miguel's love interest after he breaks up with Samantha. When Tory was little, her mother worked at a restaurant and would bring home leftovers so that Tory and her brother had enough to eat. When the restaurant manager found out, he fired Tory's mother without warning because it was against company policy to take leftovers home (even though, Tory states, it wasn't stealing because the food would go to waste). This experience made Tory believe that the world shows no mercy, and that people have to fight in a destructive way for what they want.

When she arrives at the Cobra Kai dojo, she introduces herself as "Tory...with a 'y'". She is a strong fighter who impresses both Johnny and John Kreese with her abilities. She becomes friends with Aisha, but develops a heated rivalry with Samantha, further complicated by the fact that she started dating Miguel. When Tory sees Miguel and Samantha kissing at a party, she challenges Samantha to a fight in school. Amidst the confusion, the students of both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do Karate fight each other. Despite using dirty tactics and a spiked bracelet wrapped around her fist, Tory loses to Samantha in the fight. She eventually turns against Johnny and sides with Kreese following the coup at Cobra Kai.

In Season 3, Tory is expelled from school, working multiple jobs to make ends meet for her struggling family as her mother is undergoing dialysis, and is constantly harassed by her landlord, Rodney. Sensing her predicament, Kreese blackmails Rodney into backing off from Tory, ensuring her loyalty to Cobra Kai in the process. She later serves as Kreese's star student and stops at nothing to exact her revenge on Sam. Tory and Miguel eventually break up after he disagrees with her desire for revenge against Miyagi-do. Tory eventually leads an attack on the LaRusso household where Cobra Kai engages in a large brawl with Miyagi-do and Johnny's new dojo Eagle Fang Karate. Tory is defeated by Sam and attempts to escalate the situation only to be betrayed by Hawk in the process. Tory leaves, but not before vowing revenge on Hawk, Miguel, and Sam.

Raymond Tucker (Paul Walter Hauser) is a hardware store employee. One day, he bonds with Johnny after seeing him wearing a Metallica shirt, commenting that he is also a fan of 1980s heavy metal music before selling him a replacement mirror for the Cobra Kai dojo. After watching a Cobra Kai demonstration at the Valley Fest, Raymond enrolls in the dojo to become the oldest student in the roster. During his training, he "flips the script" on his own lifestyle by braiding his beard and calling himself Stingray. After summer, Stingray attempts to get a job as a security guard at West Valley High. During the student rumble, he impresses the principal by restraining several rioters; in actuality he was stopping the Miyagi-Do kids, then giving Hawk a high five. Stingray initially sides with Kreese after his takeover of Cobra Kai, but by Season 3 he is put under probation and a restraining order is placed on him against any minor, which forces him out of the dojo.

Mitch (Aedin Mincks) is a student who joins Cobra Kai with his best friend Chris. During their training, they become lackeys in Hawk's gang. He eventually turns against Johnny and sides with Kreese following the coup at Cobra Kai. During the course of Season 3, Mitch is removed from Cobra Kai after being defeated by Kyler and joins Johnny's new dojo.

Chris (Khalil Everage) is a student who joins Cobra Kai with his best friend Mitch. Both of them become lackeys of Hawk, but Chris becomes troubled by his thuggish antics. When Daniel confronts Johnny and Kreese over the vandalism of the Miyagi-do Karate dojo, Chris joins several students in defecting to Daniel's dojo, showing himself a scrupulous person causing a rift between him and Mitch throughout the season. Demetri initially does not get along with Chris due to the latter's past involvement in Hawk's gang, but with encouragement from Daniel, they both learn to work together.

In Season 3, Chris is openly harassed by Cobra Kai at his job, prompting him to call Sam for reinforcements. After Mitch's removal from Cobra Kai, the pair reconcile and train under Eagle Fang Karate.

Doug Rickenberger (John Cihangir) is a minor character in Cobra Kai season 2 and 3. He is one of the Cobra Kai students and a member of Hawk's gang in Season 2.

Nathaniel Yang (Nathaniel Oh) is a diminutive junior student of Cobra Kai. He joins Chris and several other students to jump ship to Miyagi-do Karate. During the student rumble at the end of Season 2, Nathaniel fights Bert until both boys are taken away from the hallway by one of the security guards.

In Season 3, Nathaniel is tasked to take the money collected from Miyagi-Do's fundraising car wash and deliver it to pay for Miguel's surgery, but Hawk's gang attacks him and takes credit for the payment. Bert reconciles with Nathaniel after being kicked out of Cobra Kai by Mr. Kreese.

Sunny Mitchell (Kathleen Hogan) is the host of the annual Valley Fest.

Sandra Robinson (Kim Fields) is Aisha's mother. At the Oaks on the Beach Country Club, she boasts about how Cobra Kai changed her daughter's life for the better.

Mrs. Moskowitz (Caroline Avery Granger) is seen in a flashback where she urges West Valley High over the phone to do something about the cyberbullying inflicted on her son, Eli about his facial deformity. She is then told that the school will make an announcement, much to Eli's dismay.

Graham (Alex Collins) is a British man who dates Carmen. When Johnny overhears Graham saying that he plans on dumping Carmen after "a few bangs", Johnny attacks him outside the bar. After being told to never go near Carmen again, Graham promises to ghost her before Johnny walks away.

Piper (Selah Austria) is Moon's new girlfriend. She attends the end of summer party hosted by Moon. Little known about her but she and Moon have started to date after the latter broke up with Hawk when she found out about his involvement in the vandalizing of Miyagi-Do.

Melissa (Gena Shaw) is a woman who hits on Johnny at the bar while he is in the middle of messaging Ali on Facebook. Johnny ultimately decides against it, however Melissa's accidental bump into him causes him to inadvertently send the message. She flirts with Johnny the same way he described to Miguel as the way to hit on a girl back in his day. She and Johnny spend time drinking together and have a lot in common, however their night ends abruptly when Johnny sees an opportunity to confront Graham while he is urinating outside due to the men's room being out of order. Melissa is disappointed when Johnny doesn't ask for her number before he leaves thereafter.

Cutter (Stephan Jones) is a construction worker who loans Johnny his cement mixer truck for the Cobra Kai students to manually rotate the drum as part of their strength training.

Shawn (Okea Eme-Akwari) is a juvenile detainee. In the juvenile detention center, he eventually sets his sights on Robby, mocking his relationships with Sam and Johnny, taking his pillow, ripping his book apart, and unplugging a computer. After security splits up a fight between the two, he and Robby showed mutual respect towards each other for not snitching on one another.

Rodney (Grayson Berry) is Tory's apartment complex landlord. He constantly harasses Tory for rent, until Kreese forces him to quit the harassment by nearly cutting his finger off with a cigar cutter.

David (Jesse Kove) is a high school varsity captain in 1965. When he is given a flyer to join the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, David crumples it and throws it to the diner floor; Kreese picks it up and decides to enlist. David and his friends bully John Kreese throughout high school until Kreese sees him slap Betsy. In retaliation, Kreese beats up David and his gang and wins Betsy's heart.

Betsy (Emily Marie Palmer) is Kreese's love interest. Originally David's girlfriend, she leaves him after Kreese beats David and his friends down at the back of the diner for hitting her. During Kreese's tour of duty in Vietnam, it is revealed in a letter that Betsy is killed in a car accident in Pasadena. Capt. Turner does not notify Kreese of Betsy's death until both men are forced by their Vietcong captors to a deathmatch above a snake pit.

Captain George Turner (Terry Serpico) is Kreese's commanding officer during the Vietnam War. Having learned Tang Soo Do during the Korean War, he teaches his team his style of self-defense, which would eventually be the foundation of Cobra Kai karate. In 1969, Turner and his team are given a covert operation to sneak into and destroy a Vietcong compound, but they are captured after Ponytail fails to leave the target area and Kreese hesitates to detonate the bomb placed by Ponytail. Just before engaging in a deathmatch above a snake pit, Turner reveals Betsy's death to Kreese. During their fight, U.S. Air Force planes bomb the compound, causing the Vietcong to flee the area as Turner hangs on the bridge for his life. He begs Kreese to help him up, but Kreese forces him to fall to his death.

Ponytail (Seth Kemp) is one of John Kreese's old Vietnam buddies. Alongside Kreese and Terry Silver, Ponytail joins Captain Turner's group. After the group is captured in their failed operation, Ponytail is shot dead by the Vietcong.

Councilperson Roberts (Zele Avradopoulos) is the city councilmember who wanted to ban the All-Valley Under 18 Tournament. Eventually, after being unanimously outvoted thanks to Miguel and Samantha's speech, she relents, given that the students must sign a waiver.

Dee Snider (himself) is a heavy metal singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the band Twisted Sister. Johnny manages to let Miguel through security, telling them that Miguel has terminal cancer. During the show, Snider acknowledges the presence of Miguel under the false pretense that he was sent by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Sarah (Gissette Valentin) was a former cobra kai tryout who was soon kicked of when defeated by Tory.

Dre Parker (德瑞帕克 Déruì Pàkè, Jaden Smith), like Daniel LaRusso and Julie Pierce, goes into training for self-defense after being bullied. Dre was originally from Detroit, Michigan. However, Dre and his mother move to Beijing, China, to start a new life after his mom gets a job transfer. Dre's mother was thrilled about Beijing, although Dre wasn't particularly thrilled about the move. Shortly after moving to Beijing, Dre immediately fell in love with a pretty young violinist named Mei Ying. Soon after in the movie, he kissed her as well. It was obvious that she had mutual feelings for Dre; however, a local bully and kung fu prodigy named Cheng attempted to keep them apart. Afterward, Cheng continually tormented Dre until he was stopped by Mr. Han. After Mr. Han's interference, Dre began to learn kung fu from Han when Cheng's Shifu, Master Li, challenged them to a fight, which forced Dre to compete in the upcoming 'Open Kung Fu Tournament.' At the tournament, Dre managed to defeat Master Li's students and ultimately Cheng himself. After his victory, Dre had earned the respect of Cheng and his friends. Like Johnny in the original movie, Cheng personally presented the trophy to Dre.

Jackie Chan as Mr. Han

Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) – A Chinese maintenance man who becomes Dre's Shifu. He is based on Mr. Miyagi from the original films. The film follows the same storyline as the original, and several lines and actions are repeated from the original. Unlike Miyagi, he lacks his sense of humor and lightheartedness and appears more conflicted and depressed. He is also shown to have a car in his living room and is fixing it. However, Han is a practitioner of kung fu, and elements of his backstory differ from Miyagi's, such as the circumstances surrounding his wife's and son's death. In this version, Han tells Dre that while they were driving in his car, he was distracted by an argument with his wife and they crashed, killing them, and he's guilt-ridden over it.  Every year, he smashes the car after fixing it on the date of their deaths and fixes it again after that to repeat the cycle, hoping to relieve his guilt somehow. He continues to train Dre for the Kung Fu tournament.

Cheng (陆伟程 Lù Wěichéng, Zhenwei Wang) – is the former main villain in The Karate Kid (2010) who is Dre's arch rival. He is a bigger student attending the same school as Dre and continually harasses him throughout the film for Dre's interactions with his possible love interest, Mei Ying. He is the top student at the Fighting Dragon studio run by Master Li, who teaches his students to treat their enemies and opponents without mercy. He also goes as far as drastically beating him in the secluded back entrance of Dre's apartment before being stopped and defeated by Mr. Han. Cheng is much like Johnny Lawrence: the bully of the school, rich, well-known, the leader of his own gang of friends (though Cheng's gang numbers 6, contrary to Johnny's gang of 5), and distressing and thrashing the protagonist. Similarly, as in the first 'The Karate Kid' film, Dre earns Cheng's respect when he beats him at the finals of the 'Open Kung Fu Tournament' and Cheng personally awards Dre the trophy and he and his friends showed Mr. Han respect. In the alternative ending, Cheng is about to get slapped by Master Li for failing the tournament and showing respect towards Dre and Mr. Han, but luckily, Han comes to the rescue by defeating Master Li in a match. This is similar to the opening scene in Karate Kid, Part II (Miyagi rescues Johnny from John Kreese) and is implied that this is how the remake of the sequel will begin, on the account that there will be a Karate Kid 2 with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith reprising their roles, respectively.

Meiying (Wenwen Han) is Dre's love interest. She plays the violin, and gains admittance into the Beijing Academy of Music. They become close while attending a local festival. She and Dre first meet after Dre and his mother move into their apartment in China. One day at school, Dre encourages her to skip both school and violin practice for a day of fun. However, they later learn that her performance was rescheduled to later that very day, nearly causing her to be late. Although she makes the appointment, her father deems Dre to be a bad influence and instructs them to remain apart. Dre rehearses a written apology to Meiying's father, which Mr. Han had translated for him, in which he asks for forgiveness. Meiying's father accepts and promises him that Meiying will be at his tournament. At the end of the film, she is seen cheering loudly, keeping her 'pinky promise' to Dre, which was for her to be the loudest fan to cheer for him when he would win the Kung Fu tournament.

Liang (梁子浩 Liáng Zǐhào, played by Shijia Lü 吕世佳 Lǚ Shìjiā) – One of Cheng's friends and the second-best student at the Fighting Dragons studio who antagonizes Dre Parker in The Karate Kid Remake. Like Bobby Brown in the original film, he is more civil than the rest of Cheng's gang and the least vicious of Dre's tormenters. Later, he injures Dre's leg during the semi-finals of the tournament on Master Li's orders and deeply regrets his actions afterward. As a result of severely injuring Dre's leg, Liang gets disqualified. In the end, Liang, along with Cheng and their friends, develops a newfound respect for Dre and Mr. Han after Dre fairly defeats Cheng in the tournament. Sometimes, he also has pity for Dre and shows mercy.

Master Li (Yu Rongguang) Cheng's Kung Fu instructor. Like John Kreese, Master Li teaches his students to be ruthless and merciless towards their enemies, which includes using unsportsmanlike or illegal moves. Han tells Dre that Master Li does not teach his students real Kung Fu, but is a "bad man teaching them very bad things". When Dre and Han arrive at the Fighting Dragon studio to make peace, the bruised Cheng tells him that Han was the one who "attacked" him. Li attempts to coerce a fight from either Han or Dre, but Han instead arranges for Dre to fight at an upcoming Kung Fu tournament. During the tournament, Li instructs Liang, one of his best students, to deliver an illegal strike to Dre's leg, preventing him from continuing the tournament and allowing Cheng to win the tournament by default. Ultimately, Dre returns to the ring and ultimately defeats Cheng, much to Li's anger. Also, Master Li lost all his students to Han after losing to him in a fight. It is currently unknown what happened to him afterwards, though it is quite possible that he was eventually sent to prison for what he was teaching his students.

In the alternate ending, Master Li seeks to slap Cheng for failing to win the tournament and showing his newfound respect for Dre and Mr. Han. However, he is prevented from doing so by Han, who beats him in a fight, paralleling the beginning of The Karate Kid, Part II. Dre's mother then punches Li in the jaw as a punishment for ordering his students to attack her son.