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Peyton List Didn't Think She Was a Good Fit for Her Character Tory on 'Cobra Kai'

Anyone who has seen Cobra Kai will agree that Peyton List was made for her role as the confident Tory Nichols. So, you can imagine our surprise when the actress revealed she had no expectations of landing the role. In fact, the 24-year-old actress confessed that Tory didn't seem like a good fit for her.

During an interview with PureWow, the Disney Channel alum chatted about the Netflix series and her partnership with UVO. She also discussed what drew her to Cobra Kai and shared details about the audition process.

tory 1
Netflix

List told us, "I think how different that character is from my Disney role really did initially attract me to the part. But I also thought, 'OK, this is a part I'm not going to get. I'll go for it, and I'll try, but I'm not ready for this role.'"

She continued, "It's funny that I went in with that attitude, it was not a manifestation or a positive attitude. I thought, 'This really isn't for me.'"

Even so, the actress managed to wow the casting casting crew despite running on very little sleep. "I only went to my friend's movie premiere the night before and barely slept," she said. "I committed to it, but winged it, and I was shocked when they loved it."

tory 2
Netflix

As it turns out, List wanted to reunite with her former The Swap co-star, Jacob Bertrand, who plays Eli Moskowitz on the show. But she never watched the series until after she landed the part.

List said, "My friend, Jacob, I did work with him before, and he was on Cobra Kai, so I wanted to work with him again. I didn't watch the show until I got it...I was a bad friend. I watched the first season, and I was like, 'Wait, I cannot wait to join this show.' And I've watched Karate Kid growing up. I just kind of jumped onto the Cobra Kai train. I guess I have a similar story to a lot of people that come up to me and tell me to watch the show. It's like, everyone was a little hesitant to get into it." 

If you ask us, the casting team couldn't have made a better choice for Tory. We'll be counting down the days until she returns for the sixth (and final) season!



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