Cobra Kai came to an end on Netflix after six seasons earlier this year. Now, one of the stars who was part of the show since the very beginning of its run on YouTube and later Netflix has retired from acting.
According to a report from Variety, Courtney Henggeler, who starred as Amanda LaRusso in all six seasons of Cobra Kai, has officially retired from acting. Henggeler announced the news in a post on her Substack, Notes from the Guest Cottage by Courtney Henggeler.
Here's the first few paragraphs of her retirement announcement:
"After 20 plus years of fighting the good fight in the acting business, I hung up my gloves on Friday. I called my agents and told them I was tapping out. I no longer wanted to be a cog in the wheel of the machine. When prompted to know what I did want to do, I simply replied, 'I want to be the machine.'"
In the series, Henggeler crushed it as Amanda, the wife of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and mom of Sam (Mary Mouser) and Anthony (Griffin Santopietro). She played one of the best characters in the whole series, in my opinion.
Henggeler is also one of six Cobra Kai characters to appear in all 65 episodes of the series, along with Macchio, Mouser, William Zabka, Tanner Buchanan, and Xolo Maridueña.
In her post, Henggeler commented on the "hustle" of making a career out of acting for more than two decades. Most of us don't get to choose when we want to make a career change, and why it's always rough for fans to accept their favorites are moving on to other things, it's all part of the gig.
For fans of Henggeler, this is obviously a big bummer! She was a massive part of Cobra Kai, and her character always popped up in the right moments as a wife to Daniel and a mom to Sam and Anthony. Looking back, I don't think Henggeler gets enough credit for being the glue holding this whole thing together. Yes, it's a show about karate, but she always played the one character who you knew was going to come at this whole thing with a little bit of logic and reason. Compared to all these emotional men, losing their cool constantly, Amanda was the one holding it all together.
I also have to wonder if Henggeler, under the right circumstances, would head back to the dojo in any of the rumored Cobra Kai spinoffs. We haven't heard anything officially, but all of the stories ended with an open door for many of these characters to return. If the timing is right and she's interested, I don't see how it doesn't happen.
We'll keep you posted on the future of Cobra Kai. Watch all six seasons of the hit original series on Netflix right now.