The creators of Cobra Kai made a concerted effort to feature Hilary Swank in the show’s concluding season. Swank portrayed Julie Pierce, a student of Mr. Miyagi, in the 1994 film The Next Karate Kid.
Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg reached out to the actress’s representatives to request a meeting. “We did reach out in the very early days before the season to see if there was a path [for her to appear],” Heald shared with Entertainment Weekly.
He further explained, “We had an inkling of an idea about how she could come into this story and not have to commit to 10 episodes or something. It was going to feel like it could be a one- or two-episode arc, similar to what we did with Elisabeth Shue, where you can bring Ali back in at a pivotal moment and affect an important relationship.”
However, the actress ultimately declined the offer to meet. Heald stated, “On her end, it was very respectful, but we never got that opportunity to sit down and pour our heart out the way that we typically do when we bring back characters from the legacy.”
He added, “She was just in a place where she wasn’t looking to do that. She had had babies. I think she was in production on something at the time, and it was a respectful pass on even the idea of a meeting. She didn’t want us to go through the trouble of flying out to her and putting our heart on the sleeve because it just wasn’t something she was ready to do at that moment.”
While Oscar winner Swank was unable to be persuaded to return, Cobra Kai successfully brought back numerous actors from the original movie trilogy. This included lead stars Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, William Zabka as Johnny, and Oscar-winner Shue as Ali. The show also saw the return of various villains from the franchise, such as Thomas Ian Griffith as Terry Silver, Yuji Okumoto as Chozen Toguchi (who becomes Daniel’s friend in the series), and John Kreese, the founder of the Cobra Kai dojo, played by Martin Kove.
