Who is the new Cobra Kai Devon Lee and who plays it? The sequel to the Cobra Kai series takes place about thirty years after the original Karate Kid saga and reunites old rivals Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) after the latter decides to reopen the dojo he visited as a teenager in the 1980s. . Since the premiere of the first season of Cobra Kai in 2018, the series has turned from a sleeping YouTube hit into one of the most watched Netflix shows and earned rave reviews.
Cobra Kai may be a hit, but the series has its critics. One of the issues raised by several television experts is the relative lack of women among the students of the Cobra Kai Dojo. The first few seasons featured several female karate players, including Daniel’s daughter Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mauser) and her rival Tori Nichols (Peyton List), but there are clearly fewer of them than male dojo members. However, in season 4 of Cobra Kai, steps were taken to solve the problem with the introduction of a new character Devon Lee.
Towards the end of season 4 of Cobra Kai, Johnny struggled to find a student for his new Eagle Fang Karate dojo after learning that the upcoming All-Valley Tournament was to introduce a women’s division. He found the perfect candidate in Devon Lee, a cheeky classmate of one of his students who impressed Johnny with her knowledge of martial arts films. Devon turned out to be a capable student and a talented enough fighter to compete with the much more experienced Tories in the All-Valley Tournament. Although Devon was defeated in the quarterfinal round, nevertheless her natural flair for karate was impressive.
Devon was a welcome addition to the list of Cobra Kai characters, and this is largely due to the energetic performance of Una O’Brien, the future actress who plays her. According to her IMDb page, Cobra Kai is O’Brien’s first big acting experience, but she previously appeared in a 2020 short film called Sky High, playing a character named Mia Savage. It has not yet been confirmed whether O’Brien will play her role as Devon in the upcoming fifth season of Cobra Kai, but there are many ways her character could figure into the plot.
After losing to the Tories at the All-Valley Tournament, Devon was not embarrassed and vowed to come back stronger at the next competition. This, combined with how much she has learned about martial arts in such a short time, suggests that Devon could become an important member of the Eagle Fang Karate dojo. Devon Lee, who has become a more permanent Cobra Kai character, will also help solve the problem of the relative shortage of female karate enthusiasts in the series, so we hope that Una O’Brien will eventually reprise her role.
