Cobra Kai has proven to be a hugely successful sequel series, even all these years later, with the show able to balance Karate Kid nostalgia and cameos with new characters and stories. Well, another familiar face that the Cobra Kai creators are considering throwing into the mix is The Next Karate Kid AKA Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce.
“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.”
Introduced in 1994’s The Next Karate Kid, Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank) is taken on as a student by the legendary Mr Miyagi. Julie is a troubled teenager, who Miyagi takes under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents’ death. The first sequel to leave out Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso, The Next Karate Kid was sadly a critical and commercial failure, and though many critics praised the central performances, the majority simply felt the sequel was unnecessary.
Cobra Kai co-creator Jon Hurwitz went on to explain the approach to the series and bringing back legacy characters, emphasizing that anything within Morita’s Karate Kid movies could potentially be revived, reasoning that the Mr. Miyagi character has always been at the heart of the story. And this the “Miyagi-verse” was born.
“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 are already hugely excited for the Karate Kid 2 reunion that will make up part of Cobra Kai’s imminent third season, with Daniel’s nemesis Chozen Toguchi, and his love interest, Kumiko, both set to join the proceedings. No doubt Hilary Swank would be a welcome addition to future outings and could well prove to be a crucial ally for Daniel-San.
Cobra Kai has proven to be a huge hit for Netflix, with the service revealing back in October that the show has already been renewed for a fourth season. Netflix will premiere Cobra Kai season 3 on January 8th, 2021.
Rivals Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence will being season 3 dealing with the repercussions of the brawl at the high school that closed out the second season. With Miguel (Xolo Maridue&ña) in a coma, both Daniel and Johnny must reassess the extent of their own involvement in the events that put him there and try to figure out how to forge a better path forward for their students. The drama reaches far and wide in season 3, with Robby (Tanner Buchanan) now locked up for injuring Miguel. Meanwhile Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) is once again tormented by high school bully Kyler (Joe Seo), and John Kreese (Martin Kove) tightens his stranglehold on Cobra Kai, once again instilling his students with a very questionable moral code. This comes to us from Cinemablend.
