Who plays Miguel in Cobra Kai season 4

'Cobra Kai' Season 4: Netflix karate kids go fishing in exclusive clip

Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) teaches a lesson that involves catching koi in an exclusive clip from Season 4 of 'The Karate Kid' spinoff 'Cobra Kai.'

After three seasons of “The Karate Kid” spinoff series “Cobra Kai,” Xolo Maridueña is finally getting a crash course in the lessons of Mr. Miyagi. Although in hindsight, “wax on, wax off” or “sand the floor” would have been much better than “catch the fish.”

Season 4 (streaming on Netflix Friday) begins with the dojos of rival senseis Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) teaming up to take on villainous Cobra Kai at the All Valley Karate Tournament. Miguel Diaz (Maridueña), Johnny’s top student in Eagle Fang, starts to learn aspects of Daniel’s Miyagi-Do mindset, including one scene in which Miguel has to snag a critter in Daniel’s koi pond.

Maridueña found a fishy foe who showed no mercy.

“They won't let you grab them,” says Maridueña, 20. He worked with an animal wrangler to catch catching one with a single hand – “It’s like grabbing a bag of pudding” – but right before the cameras rolled, the koi slipped from his grasp, twice. “They were like, ‘Just grab it with two hands, hold it as hard as you can. It’s OK, we will take the fish to therapy after.’”

After creating a tight-knit bond with Johnny, Miguel starts to spend more time with Daniel, a development “that may cause some issues,” but is “equally as important a relationship,” says Maridueña, whose character dates Daniel’s daughter (and fellow martial-arts maven) Samantha (Mary Mouser). Becoming “a more well-rounded and well-balanced student of karate” will help Miguel evolve in a world populated by personalities like his friend Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) and Cobra Kai foe Robby (Tanner Buchanan). 

Maridueña just finished filming the fifth season of “Cobra Kai” and now makes the jump to Hollywood as Latino superhero Jaime Reyes in DC’s “Blue Beetle,” which is set for a theatrical release on Aug. 18, 2023.

Maridueña, a Los Angeles native, spoke with USA TODAY about his old-school “Cobra Kai” co-stars, the popularity of the show, and what’s not on his “Blue Beetle” diet plan.

Question: Miguel brings aspects of Johnny’s and Daniel’s teachings to his karate this season. Do you feel that you’ve learned different things from Billy and Ralph as an actor?

Xolo Maridueña: It wasn't really until Season 4 that I realized how differently the two work. Billy is very energy-centric, and he's really big on movements. He wants to make sure that even if he's pacing around during a scene, he's doing it the same way every time. Ralph is very much like, “Hey, let's huddle up together and talk about this scene."

Sometimes they butt heads, sometimes they agree on certain things, and it just feels like they have this role they're reprising that they care so much about. It inspires the rest of us to do a great job. 

Q: Miguel attends his junior prom and also competes in the All Valley. Which was more fun to film?

Maridueña: Oh man, definitely the big karate tournament. That first season, it was really just Miguel, Hawk and Robby. This season, we have everyone in the tournament. It really is just like an all-star game or something. It's gonna be savage.

Q: Cobra Kai started on YouTube Premium for the first two seasons and then moved to Netflix, where it became a huge hit. A year later, how do you feel about the world embracing the show so much?

Maridueña: I felt the show was a cult classic in the sense that if you really enjoyed “The Karate Kid,” you were going to go out of your way to get the YouTube subscription; you were gonna watch "Cobra Kai," and that's it. And then, once we landed on Netflix, it was like a whole different ballgame: YouTube Premium is in four or five countries, and Netflix is in more countries than not.

It's a little intimidating to see people from Brazil, Russia, Germany, Sweden, South America (and) Asia all come together and witness this show we'd made almost three years ago. I don't have braces anymore. I don't look the same. It was funny to then see people go on my Instagram and be like, “Wait, why does this guy have a beard? This guy wears glasses? What the heck, this is not Miggy. This is some other guy.” 

Q: With “Blue Beetle” coming up, is "DC superhero" the logical next role after "teenage karate star"?

Maridueña: Honestly, it feels like I've skipped a few stepping stones. “Cobra Kai” has been such a wonderful opportunity, (and) it feels a little bit intimidating being this is my first movie and it's in a realm that's totally different than anything I've ever worked on. I'm nervous, but I'm excited. It's gonna be important, not only for Latinos and to see people of color, brown people, represented onscreen, but also show a story that we haven't really seen before.

Q: Have you seen your superhero suit yet?

Maridueña: We've done two suit fittings. They're hoping that I get more buff by the time we actually start filming. But I've seen the suit, and it looks awesome.

Q: It sounds like your holidays will be spent at the gym.

Maridueña: Exactly! No Christmas cookies and milk for me.