Posted in: Cobra Kai, Netflix, TV | Tagged: Cobrai Kai, Gianni DeCenzo, netflix

Cobra Kai: Gianni DeCenzo on Final Season, Demetri's Journey & More

Netflix's Cobra Kai star Gianni DeCenzo discusses the sixth & final season, his five-season journey as Demetri Alexopoulos, and more.

To say Cobra Kai went above and beyond the scope of The Karate Kid film franchise would be an understatement considering instead of one lead learning and growing in the ways of martial arts as stars Ralph Macchio did in the first three films, Hilary Swank did in the fourth film, and Jaden Smith did in the 2010 remake, the YouTube-turned-Netflix series spawned a new generation of students while building nuance to the older generation. Macchio's Daniel LaRusso shared equal billing with his 1984 original rival in William Zabka's Johnny Lawrence for Cobra Kai. One of the beneficiaries is Gianni DeCenzo, who plays Demetri Alexopoulos, the lovable nerd and late bloomer among martial artists who finally decided he had enough bullying and joined LaRusso's Miyagi-Do Karate.

Throughout the series, Demetri found himself at odds with Jacob Bertrand's Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz, the best friend-turned-bully and back-to-best friend. As loyalties shifted, all became forgiven as Hawk found his way from the antagonistic Cobra Kai to Miyagi-Do amidst the chaos of high school drama exacerbated by the sensei. DeCenzo spoke to What's on Netflix to tease what little he can about the sixth and final season and Demetri's journey since season one. Miyagi-Do faces an uncertain future with the youths and adults unraveling Terry Silver's conspiracy that results in his arrest, the fall of Cobra Kai, and Daniel and Johnny united under the same dojo with even more new recruits.

Cobra Kai: Gianni DeCenzo on Demetri Being "Better" and at the Top of the World

"I die, my character dies. Yeah, it is utterly unrelated to karate. He slips and falls and dies," DiCenzo said. "No, I mean the thing I've always wanted to see with my character is how he develops into a more confident version of himself. Because, like we saw in season one, he was very much like, 'I know I'm gonna stay in my own lane. I don't want to like to go out of my comfort zone; I don't want to risk failure,' and throughout the seasons. We've been able to see him grow as a more confident person. He's become better at karate. He got a super hot, super popular girlfriend. Things have been going great for him. He ended up in the semi-finalists of the All-Valley tournament, which was his first tournament ever, and it was terrific. So yeah, I want to see him grow even more in season six. And yeah, I can't give out any spoilers, but it will be a great season. That's all I can say."

As far as his future after the series, DeCenzo has some ideas. "Right now, I'm working on writing because the thing about acting is it's super fun, but a lot of times, it's kind of like you're waiting for someone else to give you that next opportunity. So, to kind of like do something on my own that I want to make, I've been trying to get into writing, and I have a couple of ideas for TV shows and movies that I eventually want to pitch, but yeah, I'm just gonna keep working on that, and who knows?"

When it comes to what DeCenzo wants to write about, "I mostly like to write comedy—a lot. It's just for me when I'm writing it, it flows so well, and I love doing comedic stuff. I mean, I love playing my character. Sometimes, he gets to be the comedic relief, and it's just super fun. I want to write some parts in for myself to play something funny. Yeah, mostly comedy, maybe action. I also like action. Thanks to this show, I have a newfound appreciation for action. I mean, this is the first time I've ever done So much fighting and so much choreography. It's kind of like dancing. Maybe action comedy is something like that, which would be cool."

For more including DeCenzo's interest in Magic the Gathering, his audition process, working with Macchio and Zabka, and more, you can check out the piece here. You can check out our interview here.

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