Johnny Lawrence

Johnny is the most feared fighter at the Cobra Kai dojo, trained by Kreese to show no mercy. When Daniel starts dating his ex, Ali, he goes after him with his friends. At the All Valley he reaches the final and fights dirty against Daniel, but loses to the crane kick. He hands Daniel the trophy and tells him he's alright.

In 2017, Johnny is an alcoholic handyman living in a Reseda apartment, estranged from his son Robby. When he defends his neighbor Miguel from some bullies, he decides to reopen Cobra Kai to train him. The dojo draws in outcasts, and Johnny tries to teach, sometimes the wrong way. At the All Valley, Miguel beats Robby, and Johnny realizes his methods corrupted him.

Kreese wants back into Cobra Kai, but Johnny refuses, because he never forgot how the sensei treated him after 1984. Johnny sees that his son now trains with Daniel. Later he throws Kreese out. When the school brawl ends with Miguel unconscious, Carmen breaks up with Johnny, and he is left alone.

Blaming himself for what happened to Miguel, Johnny drinks, brawls in a bar and ends up in jail. He hunts for money for Miguel's surgery and helps him walk again. With Cobra Kai in Kreese's hands, he founds a new dojo, Eagle Fang. Ali returns to Los Angeles, and Johnny and Daniel face the Cobra Kai students' raid on the LaRusso house together.

Johnny and Daniel train Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do together against Kreese and Terry Silver's Cobra Kai. Johnny grows closer to Carmen but hides the romance from Miguel. At the All Valley, Cobra Kai takes the title. Daniel and Johnny create Miyagi-Fang. Robby breaks down over failing Kenny, and father and son reconcile.

Johnny and Robby travel to Mexico after Miguel. On the way back, Carmen says she is pregnant, and Johnny, afraid of failing as a dad again, cleans up his apartment and becomes a rideshare driver. He tries to patch things up between Robby and Miguel. In the end, wounded, he fights Silver's Korean senseis with Barnes's help.

Johnny and Chozen train the students for the Sekai Taikai. In Barcelona, Johnny nearly loses it with the other senseis. Back in California, Daniel buys the old Cobra Kai dojo so he can train Miguel and Tory. In the final fight against Sensei Wolf, Johnny drops two points, listens to Daniel and scores the winning point. Afterwards he moves into a new house with Carmen and Laura.

In Los Angeles, Johnny and Daniel debate whether New York pizza beats California pizza after getting a frozen pizza from Li Fong. Johnny pitches a business idea: a dojo-themed pizzeria called Miyagi-Dough. Daniel is mortified.

William Zabka was a wrestler who had never trained in karate when he was cast as Johnny. Crispin Glover was the studio's first choice. In 2007 Zabka directed the video Sweep the Leg, in which he plays a caricature of Johnny.