Back when Cobra Kai first started on YouTube Premium in 2018 — or, let’s be frank, when it moved to Netflix in 2020 —, viewers were thrilled to see some of their favorite characters of the 80s back in action, and played by their original actors nonetheless. The rehashing of the feud between The Karate Kid’s Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) seemed to be everything our nostalgic brains could hope for. And, over the next five seasons, we got to see the return of more and more beloved or downright hated characters from the Karate Kid franchise, from teenage heart-throb Ali (Elisabeth Shue) to billionaire and evil genius Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). With Cobra Kai’s sixth and final season fast approaching, one would think that we’ve had our fill of classic Karate Kid characters revisiting the franchise.

However, one would be wrong. As Cobra Kai reaches its end, one particular absence becomes all the more apparent. To properly close off its expansion of the Miyagiverse, it’s time for Cobra Kai to bring back the one and only next karate kid. It’s time for the show to usher in Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank).

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Who Is Julie Pierce in the Karate Kid Universe?

Hilary Swank as Julie Pierce standing with her arms crossed as Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi shows her pictures in The Next Karate Kid
Image Via Columbia Pictures

Oh, you’re not familiar with that name? Yeah, I don’t blame you. After all, The Next Karate Kid is a movie that few have seen and many would like to forget. Released in 1994, it is the only installment of the original Karate Kid franchise that doesn’t star Macchio as Daniel LaRusso. It is also the only one not to have any involvement of director John G. Avildsen and writer Robert Mark Kamen. It’s a studio baby through and through.

Written by Mark Lee and directed by Christopher Cain, The Next Karate Kid features a young Hilary Swank in her first starring role as a would-be successor to LaRusso. The actress plays rebel teen Julie Pierce, the granddaughter of one of Mr. Miyagi’s (Pat Morita) dear friends from the army. While dealing with the death of her parents, Julie receives a visit from everyone’s favorite sensei and is convinced to learn karate as a way to cope with her feelings. The martial arts lessons also serve to help her fight her school’s shady security squad, the Alpha Elite, lead by the Kreese-inspired (Martin Kove) Colonel Dugan (Michael Ironside).

The goal was to keep the franchise going without its most recognizable names and faces attached to it — apart from Morita, of course. It didn’t work. The movie was critically panned, and audiences were equally unreceptive, with The Next Karate Kid making only $15,876,353 at the box office worldwide. In retrospect, the film remains the worst of the franchise, with a sexist plot that involves Julie learning karate through babysitting and waltzing. The movie also has a stereotypical approach to Asian culture — even more than the franchise’s previous installments — and its bad guys just aren’t convincing. So why, then, should Cobra Kai revisit this mess?

Why Julie Pierce Should Make a Comeback in 'Cobra Kai' Season 6

cobra-kai-season-5-episode-3-recap-social-featured
Image via Netflix

From the get-go, Cobra Kai had one main objective: to expand and flesh out the stories and characters of the so-called Miyagiverse. The show has given us new insight not just on major characters such as Johnny, Daniel, and Kreese, but also on minor figures, like Johnny’s group of friends and even the little girl Daniel saves from a typhoon in The Karate Kid Part II. Therefore, it would be a pity for Cobra Kai to leave out such an important character to the franchise.

Because, whether we like it or not, Julie Pierce is important to the Miyagiverse. She is the only female protagonist in any Karate Kid piece of media, including Cobra Kai and the 2010 Karate Kid movie with Jaden Smith. She is also Mr. Miyagi’s only known pupil besides Daniel LaRusso, and, even if it was bad, her film was the de facto conclusion of the original Karate Kid franchise. Zabka and Macchio have already recognized Julie as a part of the Karate Kid universe and, thus, a potential part of the show. Though the actors don’t hold power over who will or won’t make a comeback in the upcoming episodes, their blessing, albeit reluctant, sure means a lot to fans. All these things considered, the right thing for Cobra Kai is to have Hilary Swank over for at least one episode before wrapping up.

From a Cameo to a Dedicated Episode, There Are Many Ways 'Cobra Kai' Can Give Julie Her Time to Shine

Hilary Swank as Julie Pierce in The Next Karate Kid
Image via Columbia Pictures

The ideal thing would be for Cobra Kai to dedicate an entire season to The Next Karate Kid, much like they did with all the other movies of the franchise. Sure, The Next Karate Kid might be bad, but The Karate Kid Part III isn’t all that better, and look how great the Terry Silver arc turned out in the series! Cobra Kai already helped redeem a certified bomb once. They could certainly do it again. However, considering that Season 6 will be the show’s last and that Season 5 ended with Kreese breaking out of jail, it is very unlikely that we will get a whole bunch of episodes dedicated to the return of Colonel Dugan and Julie’s history with Mr. Miyagi. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for Julie Pierce in Cobra Kai.

Julie could just as easily come back for an episode or two to provide guidance or insight to Daniel and Johnny. It would be something quite similar to what they did with Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) in Season 3 or even with Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) before he joined the show’s main cast. Perhaps Daniel could learn that Mr. Miyagi had another pupil in Boston and go looking for her help during a crisis of confidence, or maybe Julie can take a trip to the West Coast for some Miyagi-related reason or another. She could even become a season regular, popping up every now and then, and getting directly involved in the main plot. If none of that works, Cobra Kai could at least feature her in a cameo in its final episode, just so that The Next Karate Kid doesn’t go unrecognized.

There is, of course, the matter of whether Swank would be up for it or not. After all, even though it was her first starring role, The Next Karate Kid isn’t exactly the highest point of her career. But provided that she’s open to the possibility of returning to the Miyagiverse, Cobra Kai should definitely have her doing at least a high kick or two before they run out of episodes.