‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5: Griffin Santopietro Says It’s ‘More Fun to Play the Victim’ of Kenny
Cobra Kai Season 4 shocked many viewers by making Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro) a bully. Anthony picked on the new kid, Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young). By the time Anthony apologized in the season finale, it was too late. Kenny had already joined Cobra Kai and wasn’t going to show any mercy. In Cobra Kai Season 5, Kenny has the advantage over Anthony, but Santopietro liked it that way.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet spoke with Santopietro and Young in roundtable interviews on Aug. 26. Here’s why both actors enjoyed the role reversal of the new season. We’ll have a lot more with the cast of Cobra Kai Season 5 before it premieres Sept. 9 on Netflix.
Griffin Santopietro: ‘It’s almost more fun to play the victim’ in ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5
You’ve seen scenes in a water park in the Cobra Kai Season 5 trailer. That’s where Kenny and the Cobra Kais gang up on Anthony.
“It was really fun,” Santopietro said. “We were kind of talking about this today that it’s almost more fun to play the victim in some of these cases, especially. Dallas and I are good friends so it was a lot of fun to get covered in all these pool rings. I think that for Dallas and I as actors, it was fun to explore both sides of the bully/victim situation.”
There’s a moral in Kenny’s ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5 story
Cobra Kai has always been about how Cobra Kai’s teachings go too far. It ruined Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka)’s life to be obsessed with having no mercy. But then, showing mercy got Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) into trouble in season 2. Kenny is now experiencing a similar reckoning in Cobra Kai Season 5.
“I think people just need to learn how to really work on trying to figure out your own identity,” Young said. “I think that is so important in self-development and I think that also helps you to decide who you want to be in the future. So I want people just to know never let bullying to control you, even though it is such a difficult topic to talk about. Just remember to trust an adult and try to find your own identity. I think that’s very important in this show.”
People can learn from Anthony LaRusso too
Looking back on season 4, Santopietro thinks Anthony had bad role models. If he hadn’t listened to his friends, Cobra Kai Season 5 could be going a whole lot differently for him.
“I think from season 4, Anthony kind of learns a lesson that I think a lot of kids have to go through, which is that you need to find your real friends,” Santopietro said. “And I don’t think in season 4 Anthony really wanted to bully Kenny as much as his friends did, but he was afraid to say anything. I think that’s probably an issue that a lot of kids face. One thing I’d really want a younger audience to take away from this is just really find your people.”
