It is 2026. The dust has finally settled on the Sekai Taikai. We’ve watched the final episodes of Season 6, and honestly, seeing the Reseda crew grow up has been a trip. But there’s a weird thing that happens when you binge a show that spans nearly a decade in real life while only covering a couple of years in the story. You start to lose track of reality. You see Ralph Macchio on screen and your brain tells you he’s maybe 45, but then you check the calendar.
The gap between the Cobra Kai cast age and their fictional counterparts is one of the wildest in modern TV history. We aren't just talking about 25-year-olds playing 16-year-olds—though there’s plenty of that. We’re talking about "grandfather" figures who look younger than some of the "dads" on other shows.
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If you’ve been watching since 2018, you’ve basically seen these kids hit puberty, graduate high school, and enter their mid-twenties while their characters are still worrying about college applications.
The Ageless Wonder: Ralph Macchio in 2026
Let’s just get the big one out of the way. Ralph Macchio is 64 years old. By the time 2026 wraps up, he’ll be hitting 65. Think about that for a second. When The Karate Kid came out in 1984, Ralph was 22 playing a 17-year-old. He’s always been the poster child for "baby face," but seeing him as Daniel LaRusso in the final season of Cobra Kai hits different.
He’s now older than Pat Morita was when the original movie was filmed.
Mr. Miyagi was the "old" mentor, yet Ralph is out here doing crane kicks and full-contact fight choreography in his mid-sixties. It’s kinda legendary. Honestly, whatever water he’s drinking, we all need a bottle of it. He’s managed to bridge a 40-year gap with the same character, and while he’s clearly matured, he still carries that Daniel-san energy that makes it easy to forget he’s technically a senior citizen by many definitions.
The Rivalry That Aged Well
Then there’s William Zabka. As of October 2026, he’s 61. Johnny Lawrence has always been the "cool dad" (well, sort of) of the series, and Zabka has leaned into that aging-athlete vibe perfectly. Unlike Macchio, who seems to defy time, Zabka looks like he’s lived a life, which fits Johnny's arc of redemption and Coors Banquet-fueled wisdom.
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The chemistry between these two hasn't faded. If anything, it’s gotten better as they’ve gotten older. Watching two men in their 60s settle a high school grudge is objectively hilarious, but they play it with such heart that you just go along with it.
The Senseis: Then and Now
- Martin Kove (John Kreese): The man is a tank. Born in 1946, Kove is 80 years old in 2026. Eighty! He’s still playing one of the most physically imposing villains on television.
- Thomas Ian Griffith (Terry Silver): Born in 1962, he’s 64. He’s actually younger than Ralph Macchio, despite playing a character who was supposed to be a peer of Kreese in the Vietnam War.
- Yuji Okumoto (Chozen): At 67, Okumoto has become the heart of the show’s later seasons.
The "Kids" Aren't Kids Anymore
This is where the Cobra Kai cast age gets really confusing for people. Because the show’s timeline moves so much slower than real-world production, the age gap for the younger actors is massive.
Take Mary Mouser, for example. Samantha LaRusso is supposed to be around 18 or 19 in the final season. In reality? Mary Mouser turned 30 in May 2026. She’s playing a teenager while being a full-grown adult. She’s actually older than some of the actors who played teachers in the early seasons.
Xolo Maridueña (Miguel Diaz) is 25. He’s arguably the face of the new generation, and while he’s aged into a leading-man look, he still carries that boyish charm that allows us to buy him as a kid heading off to college.
Tanner Buchanan, who plays Robby Keene, is 27. He and Peyton List (Tory Nichols), who is 28, have been playing high schoolers for so long that it’s going to be strange seeing them in "adult" roles after this. Peyton, in particular, has had a long career—remember her from Disney’s Jessie? That feels like a lifetime ago because it was.
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The Breakdown of the Students
Basically, if you’re looking for a quick reference, here’s how the main student cast sits in 2026:
- Mary Mouser (Sam): 30
- Peyton List (Tory): 28
- Tanner Buchanan (Robby): 27
- Jacob Bertrand (Hawk): 26
- Xolo Maridueña (Miguel): 25
- Gianni DeCenzo (Demetri): 24
The only ones who are actually close to "college age" are the later additions like Dallas Dupree Young (Kenny), who is 19. He’s the only one who actually looks like he might still need a permission slip for a field trip.
Why the Age Gap Doesn't Break the Show
Usually, when actors get this much older than their characters, it becomes "The Grease Effect." You know, where 30-year-olds are sitting in a high school cafeteria and it looks ridiculous. Cobra Kai mostly dodges this.
Why? Because the show is built on nostalgia.
We’re already suspended in a reality where karate dojos run the local economy and people settle legal disputes with spinning back kicks. Once you accept that, you don't really care that Samantha LaRusso is 30. The emotional beats land because these actors have lived with these characters for nearly a decade.
There's a nuance they bring now that they didn't have in Season 1. When Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) struggles with his identity, it feels weightier because Bertrand himself has grown from a teenager into a man during the show's run. You can see the maturity in their faces, but the writing keeps them anchored to that "coming of age" struggle that defines the franchise.
The Final Bow in 2026
As we look back at the legacy of Cobra Kai, the ages of the cast tell a story of longevity. It’s rare for a show to survive the jump from YouTube Red to Netflix and then run for six massive seasons. It’s even rarer for a cast to stay mostly intact for that long.
We’ve watched them grow up. Not just the characters, but the people.
If you're looking to dive deeper into the series now that it's concluded, keep an eye on the upcoming Karate Kid movie projects. While the show is over, the "Miyagi-verse" is clearly expanding, and with Ralph Macchio seemingly immune to the passage of time, he’ll likely be playing Daniel LaRusso until he’s 90.
For fans, the next step is simple. Re-watch the pilot and then jump straight to the Season 6 finale. The physical transformation of the cast is the best "special effect" the show ever had. It’s a testament to the years of work they put in, and honestly, it makes the ending feel a lot more earned. Go check out the behind-the-scenes documentaries if you can find them; seeing 64-year-old Ralph and 80-year-old Martin Kove hitting the gym to prep for their scenes puts most of our fitness routines to shame.