'Cobra Kai': Jacob Bertrand Explains Why He 'Selfishly' Loves Playing a Villain (Exclusive)

Jacob Bertrand plays one of the main characters in the hit Netflix series Cobra Kai. While his character, Eli/Hawk, starts off as someone fans root for, the last two seasons saw him take a very dark turn. PopCulture.com recently caught up with the 20-year old actor who explained why he loves being the bad guy.

"I selfishly love playing a villain," Bertrand said to PopCulture. "It's so much fun. Playing the good guy is fun, but playing a villain, I don't know what it is about it. It's nice to act really bad." Season 3, which was released on New Year's Day, saw Hawk break Demetri's (Gianni DeCenzo) arm, which was one of the more shocking moments of the series. However, Hawk began to question his allegiance to Cobra Kai as John Kreese (Martin Kove) began adding new members, including Kyler (Joe Seo), who bullied Hawk in Season 1. At the end of the third season, Hawk turns on Cobra Kai and reunites with Demetri and his former sensei Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), who just launched the Eagle Fang dojo. Eagle Fang teams with Miyagi-Do as they look to take down the Kreese-led Cobra Kai.

"For Hawk, I definitely think this is so necessary," Bertrand said. "It is definitely what people want. I don't believe anybody looks at Hawk as 'Yeah, we want him to keep breaking arms and knocking people out and getting on top and whaling on them. Hawk is a very all-in type of person. In this switch, it will be really good for him. Coming back to Demetri, his binary brother and Miguel (Xolo Mariduena) and realigning back with Johnny, I am excited for his growth in re-learning on how to be a good kid."

Hawk making the turn back to where he was at the beginning was one of the many highlights of Season 3. And due to the fact the series made the jump from YouTube to Netflix this past summer, fans had to wait nearly two years to see Hawk and the rest of the Cobra Kai cast in action.

"We filmed it so long ago. So many people have been like, 'Is Miguel alive?' and 'What's gonna happen?' Bertrand explained. "It's so nice to be able to finally talk about what's happening. The fans have been waiting for so long and they've been so awesome, especially with YouTube over to Netflix. We're all really excited."