Peyton List discusses Conservatives’ heart of gold

Mary Mouser also discusses battling Sam’s darker headspace this time around.

We’ve already covered Daniel’s (Ralph macchio) trip to Okinawa, Johnny’s (William zabka) scenes in the hospital with Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), Miguel’s Multi-Layered Road to Healing and Hawk’s (Jacob Bertrand) tense scenes with Kreese (Martin Kove). Now let’s move on to what Sam (Mary mouser) and Tory (Peyton List) face Cobra Kai Season 3.

With the highly anticipated new season arriving on Netflix on New Years Day, I had the chance to chat with Mouser and List about their approach to their characters this time around. If you follow them on Instagram, there’s a chance you captured the Instagram Live video they made together in September. During the conversation, a BuzzFeed character quiz popped up. If you took this quiz and ended up getting Tory, it came up with a description that basically said, Tory has a heart of gold. It’s a curious descriptor for one of the most violent Cobra Kai students in the bunch, but who better to weigh in on the issue than Tory herself, Peyton List? Here’s what List said when asked if she really thinks she has a heart of gold playing the character:

“Yeah, it’s because in my head I’m always right and I always do the right thing and I fight for the best and I fight for justice and everything.” I think, yes, my character has a heart of gold. From her perspective, Sam wronged her and saw the worst in her. And even with my friends I’m friends with Aisha and I’m friends with Miguel and I like Miguel and Sam tried to steal it from me, and she seems to be that privileged girl that I’m threatened by because I never have seen nothing like it and i can’t even imagine her having any problems and i can’t imagine her world so to me everything makes sense but looking from the outside i can see why ‘heart d ‘or’ to be questionable. ”

As for Sam, Mouser has his work cut out for him this season. Sam doesn’t just heal from the school brawl at the end of Season 2 and move on. She struggles with severe anxiety, much of which relates to Tory. It’s a darker headspace, but Mouser was completely up to the challenge.

“I think I was really excited to go into it. I was delighted to get serious in different and new ways. And especially with this season’s arc, it wasn’t easy, but it was relatable to me in a new way. I was able to bring Samantha new parts of myself that I hadn’t been able to take yet, took out my new bags and started unpacking them. Oh so fun! But in fact, it was really therapeutic and rewarding. Not necessarily easy, but I’m really excited for people to see it because I’ve tried to play it as honestly and true as possible. There is a lot of me in Samantha this year.

If you’re interested in learning more about List and Mouser, we’ve got the full non-spoiler part of the chat for you at the top of this article. Also make sure to come back after Cobra Kai Season 3 drops on Netflix because that’s when we’ll unveil half of the spoiler-laden conversation.

Mary Mouser and Peyton List

• What it’s like to bring the Sam / Tory rivalry to the screen now that they’ve grown closer to each other behind the scenes.

• Does List really think Tory has a heart of gold?

• Mouser discusses going into a darker headspace with Sam this season.

About the Author

Perri nemiroff
(2464 Articles published)

Perri Nemiroff has been part of the Collider team since 2012. She co-hosts Collider FYC, The Witching Hour and hosts the interview series, Collider Ladies Night. Perri is a proud graduate of Columbia University’s MA in Film program and a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Perri divides his time between Los Angeles and New York, but devotes every waking hour to his cat, Deputy Dewey.

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