Sean Kanan returns to ‘The Bold and the Beautiful,’ but keeping mum on ‘Cobra Kai’

Fans of the daytime soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” may notice a familiar face is back on the show. Actor and Palm Springs resident Sean Kanan’s character Deacon Sharpe has returned after completing a prison sentence. 

Many are wondering, is he up to his evil ways again? Or is he working to make up for mistakes in his past and reconnect with his daughter?

Kanan first appeared on the show in 2000 and appeared regularly until 2005. Since then, he has been featured off and on. He told The Desert Sun that walking onto the set felt like a “wonderful sense of familiarity.”

In the realm of soap operas, no persona is “gone for good,” and occasionally they come back from the dead, which happened to Kanan's character A.J. Quartermaine on “General Hospital.” He attributes this to actors turning into a “tried-and-true commodity” in that medium and said he’s “fortunate” the writers of “The Bold and the Beautiful” don’t insert such twists and turns.

“I love playing the character and working with a lot of the actors I’ve worked with before,” Kanan said. “Working with a lot of the new actors keeps (the character) fresh and I’m able to bring new aspects to my performance.” 

Kanan is annoyed when he’s defined as a “soap actor.” He’s appeared in more than 20 films and on several TV shows. To him, “acting is acting,” but what's particularly demanding about soap operas is they're on five days a week, 50 weeks a year, and there’s a show on Christmas. That means studios are producing 1½ shows per day, and actors have an extensive amount of dialogue to learn. 

“It’s very much a machine,” Kanan said. “When you’re on a soap opera, the new scripts keep coming. Your character, the arc, where the show is going and your character is constantly evolving, and that has pros and cons.” 

But there’s another role from Kanan’s past that fans want to see him play, the villainous Mike Barnes from the 1989 film “The Karate Kid III” in the Netflix “Karate Kid” spinoff series “Cobra Kai.”

The fourth season released in January featured the return of his "The Karate Kid III" co-star Thomas Ian Griffith, but Kanan repeated what he told The Desert Sun last year: "I can neither confirm nor deny" that he will appear in the fifth season. 

There’s a curious crossover in Kanan’s fanbase from the younger demographic viewing “Cobra Kai” and discovering him after seeing “The Karate Kid” films, and many are tuning in to “The Bold and the Beautiful.” 

“When I’m fortunate enough to appear on ‘Cobra Kai,’ I think it would be amazing to have all ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ fans come over and discover ‘Cobra Kai,’” Kanan said. “Being on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful,’ I not only enjoy the benefits of being on the show, but I want to bring value to it too. One way I can bring value is to bring new viewership that would otherwise not be watching, and vice versa for ‘Cobra Kai.’” 

He's still 'amazed' by the writing 

Being a part of “The Karate Kid” universe, Kanan continues to be “amazed” by the writing and what creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg continue to do. There are some “great twists and turns” in season four. Knowing the acting abilities of William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, Martin Kove and Griffith, Kanan said the series “could grow wings and fly.” 

He also enjoys the evolution of the original characters of a film franchise made popular over 30 years ago, adding “Cobra Kai” makes them “multidimensional” seeing that Johnny (Zabka) isn’t such a “bad guy” and Daniel (Macchio) is still the hero, but with flaws. 

Kanan refers to this as the "nine shades of gray that make any character interesting" and pointed to one famous example in film history. 

"Playing a character that is polarized 100% hero or villain is not really that interesting," Kanan said. "Look at someone like Hannibal Lecter (from "Silence of the Lambs"), how is it we found ourselves basically rooting for this guy? Psychopathic serial killer, but it was his humanity, his dislike for all things in bad taste or offensive, and the 'love' he has for Clarice Starling that you find yourself rooting for this guy." 

In August, Kanan released his book "Way of the Cobra," which was published by Flip Creative Publishing and is on sale at wayofthecobra.com. Each section is categorized as a karate belt level from white (beginner) to black (expert) and offers advice on conquering internal and external obstacles and developing personal success. 

“Way of the Cobra” was originally going to be based on Michelangelo’s sculpture “David” and freeing ourselves from the marble that imprisons us. Kanan’s experiences from filming “The Karate Kid III” inspired him to take a different approach, which he said was a “fantastic decision.” It’s not written specifically for martial artists, fans of “The Karate Kid” or “Cobra Kai.” 

In the book, Kanan shares his near-death experience while filming "The Karate Kid III" after performing a stunt where he fell on his side, perforated his omentum and was bleeding internally requiring emergency surgery. He also addresses subjects such as the childhood bullying he endured, overcoming childhood obesity and more. 

"(The book) is very much about doing the right thing and 'with great power comes great responsibility,'" Kanan said. "I feel I'm sharing some strategy and secrets that have the ability to help people turn their lives around, and I know it does because it worked for me. It needs to be executed with compassion and a sense of responsibility that is for doing good."  

He also filmed more episodes of his Amazon Prime series “Studio City,” which will be out later this month. “Studio City” won two Daytime Emmy Awards in 2021. Kanan is the creator and one of the show’s writers along with his wife, Michele Kanan. He plays soap actor Sam Stevens, whose life is filled with personal and family problems. The show also tackles issues such as LGBTQ and transgender discrimination, ageism and suicide.

Kanan said Sam Stevens is a “Xerox copy” of himself and his earlier life, but said he’s “resolved and overcome a lot of the emotional hurdles” 

“There is a tremendous amount of me in that character,” Kanan said. A lot of the characters are amalgamations of people that I have encountered over the years. There are multiple people that have been fused into one (character), but it’s been one of the greatest work experiences of my career." 

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.