After five seasons of Cobra Kai, many fan favorites from the original Karate Kid movie trilogy have been brought into the fray to join series stars William Zabka and Ralph Macchio in reprising their roles. And yet, there’s one key character from the movie series that’s still nowhere to be found in the TV show. That would be Hilary Swank, the star of the fourth movie The Next Karate Kid, which also showcased Pat Morita’s final performance as Mr. Miyagi.
Reviews were not exactly kind on The Next Karate Kid, but given the the place film and its characters have in the overall story, many fans are still hoping to see Swank’s Julie Pierce finally meet Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence and Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso. In a new interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Swank directly addressed the possibility and revealed that the ball is not in her court. She seems to be open to the idea of coming back as Julie on the Netflix series, but says that, as of now, no one has so much has given her a call, much less an offer to return.
“I’m not in Cobra Kai, no one’s asked me to be in Cobra Kai,” Swank said, via People. “A lot of people ask if I’m going to be on it, it’s like, the No. 1 question I get.”
She added, “No one’s called me! … but it’s so funny, isn’t it, that’s the one thing I get asked the most and no one’s called me?”
“After today that’s going to change, Hilary Swank, I can promise you,” Ryan Seacrest stated.
Will or Will She Not Return in Cobra Kai?
This revelation follows a recent interview where Swank dodged a Cobra Kai question, but this new interview makes it much more clear where Julie Pierce stands with Cobra Kai. Ahead of the season 5 premiere, the show’s creators also slyly teased that a Julie Pierce return could be coming, leading some fans to wonder if she’d pop up in season 5. Of course, as we now know, that wasn’t meant to be, though there’s always season 6.
“All we can say about her is we love Hilary Swank,” co-creator Jon Hurwitz said in a Fandom interview. “We think she’s a phenomenal actress and we love her character in this franchise. She was taught by Mr. Miyagi and she’s somebody who is important to the Karate Kid universe.”
He added, “We can’t say if she’ll return, we can’t say how she’d return if she was going to return. We can say that we talk about her and maybe we’ve met her, maybe we’ve worked with her, maybe we haven’t. We can’t tell you anything! It’s gonna continue to be a question until either she shows up or the series ends.”
There has been some chatter of Cobra Kai getting delayed, so it could be a while before we see some new episodes. In any case, perhaps the time is finally right for Swank to be brought in for the sixth season.