The Cobra Kai cast was never worried about skepticism from diehard Karate Kid fans: “The franchise as a whole has been completely behind us”

Cobra Kai stars Mary Mouser and Gianni DeCenzo say they weren't worried at all about initial negative reception to the Karate Kid revival series.

"I didn't even realize that it was gonna be like, it was being scrutinized until people saw it and they were like, 'Oh my God, I thought it was gonna be trash' ," DeCenzo tells GamesRadar+. "It's like, oh, glad it wasn't. I would've been way more scared going into the first season if I knew, but we passed the trash barrier. We did it. We're not trash. Are you proud now, Mom? "

The series, which picks up some 40 years after the first Karate Kid film, sees longtime rivals Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) start dojos of their own and train a new generation of martial artists. DeCenzo plays Demetri Alexopoulos, tech genius and best friend of nerd-turned-bully-turned-hero Eli 'Hawk' Moskowitz (Jacob Bertrand). Mouser plays Sam LaRusso, Daniel's daughter.

The 2010 Karate Kid reboot starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan received mixed reviews, and was the last entry in the franchise before Cobra Kai popped up as a YouTube RED series in 2018. Netflix quickly scooped up the show and turned it into one of the streaming giant's biggest hits. Since its inception, the series has included countless cameos from actors from and has made sure to stay true to the initial Karate Kid trilogy.

"I definitely feel like the franchise, as a whole, has been completely behind us. It's true, though. I don't think we were ever in a negative position in which people voiced to us that they thought wished us bad or wished us ill or thought it was going to blow up in our faces," Mouser explains. "But I have loved that since we've kind of gotten to prove our medal, we've never lost that core fan base. We've gotten to grow and bring people to the original franchise. I'm a fan girl myself for a lot of different things and have been a part of fandoms where people aren't that welcoming of new fans where they're like, 'No, you weren't here for day one,' or, 'You don't know the hardships as a fan of blah blah blah.' Right? We don't have that, which has been wonderful because it means that we've gotten to have like just open arms from us to the fandom as it grows and from the fandom to us, which I'm really grateful for."