In just a couple of weeks, one of the most popular shows on the planet will return to our screens when season 3 of Cobrai Kai arrives on Netflix, marking the first run of episodes to be produced by the streaming service after they acquired the rights to the Karate Kid sequel series. The first two runs dominated the most-watched list and turned Cobra Kai into the most popular show in the entire content library when they were added back in August, and the brand new installments with a much bigger budget are expected to fare even better.
William Zabka and Ralph Macchio renewed their rivalry as Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso, but several more familiar faces from the Karate Kid franchise have dropped by throughout the course of the series, including Tony O’Dell and the late Rob Garrison as Jimmy and Tommy, while season 3 sees The Karate Kid Part II‘s Tamlyn Tomita and Yuji Okumoto reprise the roles of Kumiko and Chozen, as Daniel heads back to Mr. Miyagi’s old stomping grounds of Okinawa.
The bigger Cobra Kai gets, the more fans would love to see Hilary Swank cameo as Julie Pierce, with the future two-time Academy Award winner taking the first major lead role of her career in The Next Karate Kid, and co-creator Josh Hurwitz has admitted that it frequently gets brought up in the writers’ room.
“In our writers’ room we speak about literally every character that has appeared in the Miyagi-verse, so it’s obvious that we’ve spoken about Julie Pierce. As to whether or not she’ll return to the series, that’s something you’ll just have to wait to find out.”
Swank never interacted with Macchio as The Next Karate Kid was intended as a soft reboot of the franchise, but Hurwitz explained that Mr. Miyagi is the narrative glue holding the Cobra Kai universe together, not Daniel LaRusso.
We always say that our show takes place in the Miyagi-verse. In our minds, any story in which Mr. Miyagi was a character, with Pat Morita playing Mr. Miyagi I should say, is canon to our world. The Next Karate Kid is a part of our universe. We believe that the events of that movie happened. In terms of that movie, it has its pluses and minuses. One of the things that’s really special about it is it’s very early work for Hilary Swank and she’s gone on to be one of the great actors in Hollywood. Her performance is great in that movie and her chemistry with Pat Morita is fantastic.”
Fans would go wild if Hilary Swank dropped by for a cameo appearance on Cobra Kai, and if it indeed happens, then they should get her co-star Walton Goggins involved while they’re at it.