This Missing Karate Kid Actor Hasn’t Appeared In Cobra Kai For A Very Good Reason – & She Probably Never Will

Although Cobra Kai uses a blend of new characters and existing stars from the larger Karate Kid franchise, some of the show’s most exciting moments are when familiar faces return decades later, but there’s one actor who has yet to come back and has perhaps always been unlikely to. To put it another way, some of the best Cobra Kai characters were also prominent Karate Kid figures in the original trilogy of movies. The buzz that’s been caused by established figures coming back throughout the spinoff show is a big part of why it has continued to happen.

There’s only really one remaining character who could create excitement if they came back now. They’d need to be part of the Cobra Kai season 6 cast, as the show is set to end after the final episodes of the run have aired. That being said, every returning star has been well-received for many reasons – but one reason is perhaps far more important than the others. Therefore, it may not be worth bringing the character back at all. While they made their debut in one of the five Karate Kid movies, they’re still an outlier.

Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce Has Never Interacted With Any Cobra Kai Character

1994’s The Next Karate Kid was the first franchise installment not to feature Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso. Instead, Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi served as sensei to Hilary Swank’s Julie Pierce. The movie is a soft reboot of the movie series, despite also being a sequel. Morita’s sage character was the only figure to carry over from the original trilogy. Swank still has yet to reprise her role as Julie in Cobra Kai, but the most salient theory for why comes down to the fact that none of the other characters would know who Julie is.

Despite Daniel and Mr. Miyagi briefly going their separate ways for The Next Karate Kid, certain context clues in Cobra Kai confirm an eventual reunion between the two, with Daniel’s mentor and father figure forming a bond with not just Amanda, but also the next generation of the LaRusso family. It’s possible that Mr. Miyagi told the LaRussos about Julie during his later years, but they never actually met. Every other Karate Kid comeback has been a reunion with Daniel, so Julie’s return would likely fall a little flat because of the lack of familiarity with one another.

There Is Still A Little Hope For Julie Pierce Fans

Despite the risk of Swank’s franchise return falling flat if it were to happen, those connected with the show continue to tease the possibility of Julie’s comeback in Cobra Kai season 6. Speaking with Digital Spy, Macchio confirmed he thought a Julie Pierce cameo after so long of waiting would be “the one piece that would be interesting.” Jon Hurwitz, one of Cobra Kai’s showrunners, has also confirmed he and co-boss Hayden Schlossberg are Hilary Swank fans, and stated that “anyone from the Miyagi-verse could potentially be in the final season.”

Although The Next Karate Kid feels isolated from the original movies, it still exists within the same canon. So, Swank’s character is included under the “Miyagi-verse” umbrella. Interestingly, now that Jackie Chan’s 2010 Karate Kid remake has been folded into the franchise’s main continuity, the Cobra Kai showrunners could also be referencing characters like Chan’s Mr. Han or even Jaden Smith’s Dre Parker. While Smith’s acting work has been sparse in recent years, Chan is confirmed to be coming back for the upcoming Karate Kid sequel in 2025. So a Hr. Han cameo isn’t impossible in Cobra Kai season 6.

Why Julie Probably Won’t Show Up In Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2

With Cobra Kai’s final season building to an epic finale at the Sekai Taikai in Barcelona, the return of Julie Pierce wouldn’t really add all that much to the story. There’s a possibility she could have her own dojo at the tournament, but it would surely have made more sense to introduce her at the end of Cobra Kai season 6, part 1 – a moment that was dominated by the reveal of Tori’s defection. Plus, Julie would also practice Miyagi-do karate, so it wouldn’t make sense for two dojos to enter the Sekai Taikai under the same name.

There is a small chance that Julie’s return could somehow tie into the ongoing Mr. Miyagi mystery that has arisen. As exciting as the Sekai Taikai is bound to be, the next batch of five episodes in November should be sufficient to cover that particular arc. Then, when the third and final set of five episodes arrives in 2025, that is when the Miyagi storyline could come to the surface, which would arguably be the last time Swank’s Karate Kid character could make her Cobra Kai debut.