‘Cobra Kai’ Makes Casting Moves Ahead of Season 5 Premiere

Cobra Kai will have a new cast member when Season 5 premieres on Netflix on Sept. 9. According to Deadline, Cobra Kai has cast Alicia Hannah-Kim for Season 5 as the South Korean sensei Kim Da-Eun who plays a role in Terry Silver’s (Thomas Ian Griffith) plans for accelerating the expansion of the Cobra Kai dojo. Additionally, Dallas Dupree Young, who joined the show last season as Kenny Payne, has been promoted to a series regular. 

The news comes shortly after Netflix debuted the first trailer for Cobra Kai Season 5. It was revealed that production for the new season wrapped before Season 4 premiered on Netflix in December. Because of that, Season 5 has an earlier release date than Season 3 (Jan. 1, 2021) and Season 4 ( Dec. 31, 2021). In December, Popculture.com spoke to the co-creators of Cobra Kai and were asked about an earlier release of Season 5. 

“I think we try not to anticipate too much because things change,” Hayden Schlossberg told PopCulture at the time. “We’re talking about a year of time and there’s always external factors that can change things. So, if I’m a fan, would assume that usually shows come about a year after that. Like these serialized shows, it’s every season is every year, but it could change and it could be earlier. It could be later, you know, hopefully not, as a fan, I know people want to see these shows as soon as possible, but we also have to make them. And the cool thing is, we definitely have more coming and it’s going to be ready.”

Hannah-Kim was recently seen on the HBO Max series Minx. She has also appeared on Freeform’s Alone Together, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, and the Starz series Crash. Young is known for his roles in Nickelodeon’s Cousins For Life, The Fosters, ABC’s Mixed-ish, and Freeform’s Good Trouble. 

“As soon as I found out I was a finalist for Kenny, I wanted to watch all of the series just to see how [Cobra Kai] continued the whole Daniel LaRusso vs. Johnny Lawrence [William Zabka] rivalry,” Young told Screen Rant earlier this year. “I honestly fell in love with the show as soon as I saw it. Every one of the seasons was perfectly executed. The creators have such a vision and I saw it as soon as I watched it. I thought it was incredible. I’m so happy to be a part of it.”